Obsequious

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Obsequious \Ob*se"qui*ous\, a. [L. obsequiosus, fr. obsequium
     compliance, fr. obsequi, fr. obsequi: cf. F. obs['e]quieux,
     See {Obsequent}, and cf. {Obsequy}.]
     1. Promptly obedient, or submissive, to the will of another;
        compliant; yielding to the desires of another; devoted.
        [Obs.]


        [1913 Webster]
  
              His servants weeping,
              Obsequious to his orders, bear him hither.
                                                    --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Servilely or meanly attentive; compliant to excess;
        cringing; fawning; as, obsequious flatterer, parasite.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              There lies ever in "obsequious" at the present the
              sense of an observance which is overdone, of an
              unmanly readiness to fall in with the will of
              another.                              --Trench.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. [See {Obsequy}.] Of or pertaining to obsequies; funereal.
        [R.] "To do obsequious sorrow." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Compliant; obedient; servile. See {Yielding}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  obsequious
       adj 1: attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery
              [syn: {bootlicking}, {fawning}, {sycophantic}, {toadyish}]
       2: attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; "obsequious
          shop assistants"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  70 Moby Thesaurus words for "obsequious":
     abject, adulatory, ass-kissing, backscratching, beggarly, bland,
     blandishing, blarneying, bootlicking, brown-nosing, buttery,
     cajoling, complimentary, courtierly, courtly, cowering, crawling,
     cringing, crouching, deferential, fair-spoken, fawning,
     fine-spoken, flattering, footlicking, fulsome, groveling, gushing,
     hangdog, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, ingratiating,
     insincere, insinuating, low, mealy-mouthed, mealymouthed, menial,
     obeisant, oily, oily-tongued, on bended knee, parasitic, prone,
     prostrate, servile, slavish, slimy, slobbery, smarmy, smooth,
     smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sniveling, soapy, soft-soaping,
     sponging, submissive, subservient, sycophantic, sycophantical,
     sycophantish, timeserving, toadeating, toadying, toadyish,
     truckling, unctuous, wheedling