Sycophant definition

Sycophant





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6 definitions found

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

  Sycophant \Syc"o*phant\, v. t. [CF. L. sycophantari to deceive,
     to trick, Gr. ?.]
     1. To inform against; hence, to calumniate. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Sycophanting and misnaming the work of his


              adversary.                            --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To play the sycophant toward; to flatter obsequiously.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Sycophant \Syc"o*phant\, v. i.
     To play the sycophant.
     [1913 Webster]

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

  Sycophant \Syc"o*phant\, n. [L. sycophanta a slanderer,
     deceiver, parasite, Gr. ? a false accuser, false adviser,
     literally, a fig shower; ? a fig + ? to show: cf. F.
     sycophante. The reason for the name is not certainly known.
     See {Phenomenon}.]
     1. An informer; a talebearer. [Obs.] "Accusing sycophants, of
        all men, did best sort to his nature." --Sir P. Sidney.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A base parasite; a mean or servile flatterer; especially,
        a flatterer of princes and great men.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A sycophant will everything admire:
              Each verse, each sentence, sets his soul on fire.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sycophant
       n : a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a
           personal advantage [syn: {toady}, {crawler}, {lackey}]

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

  75 Moby Thesaurus words for "sycophant":
     adherent, adulator, apple-polisher, ass-licker, backscratcher,
     backslapper, blarneyer, bootlick, bootlicker, bootlicking,
     brown-nose, brownie, cajoler, clawback, courtier, cowering,
     creature, cringer, cringing, disciple, dummy, dupe, fawner,
     figurehead, flatterer, flunky, follower, footlicker, gillie, goon,
     gopher, groveler, groveling, handshaker, hanger-on, helot,
     henchman, instrument, jackal, kowtower, kowtowing, lackey,
     led captain, lickspit, lickspittle, man, mealymouth, minion,
     myrmidon, parasitic, peon, puppet, reptile, satellite, self-seeker,
     serf, slave, snob, spaniel, stooge, suck, thug, timeserver, toad,
     toadeater, toady, toadying, toadyish, tool, truckler, truckling,
     tufthunter, votary, wheedler, yes-man
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  SYCOPHANT, n.  One who approaches Greatness on his belly so that he
  may not be commanded to turn and be kicked.  He is sometimes an
  editor.
  
      As the lean leech, its victim found, is pleased
      To fix itself upon a part diseased
      Till, its black hide distended with bad blood,
      It drops to die of surfeit in the mud,
      So the base sycophant with joy descries
      His neighbor's weak spot and his mouth applies,
      Gorges and prospers like the leech, although,
      Unlike that reptile, he will not let go.
      Gelasma, if it paid you to devote
      Your talent to the service of a goat,
      Showing by forceful logic that its beard
      Is more than Aaron's fit to be revered;
      If to the task of honoring its smell
      Profit had prompted you, and love as well,
      The world would benefit at last by you
      And wealthy malefactors weep anew --
      Your favor for a moment's space denied
      And to the nobler object turned aside.
      Is't not enough that thrifty millionaires
      Who loot in freight and spoliate in fares,
      Or, cursed with consciences that bid them fly
      To safer villainies of darker dye,
      Forswearing robbery and fain, instead,
      To steal (they call it "cornering") our bread
      May see you groveling their boots to lick
      And begging for the favor of a kick?
      Still must you follow to the bitter end
      Your sycophantic disposition's trend,
      And in your eagerness to please the rich
      Hunt hungry sinners to their final ditch?
      In Morgan's praise you smite the sounding wire,
      And sing hosannas to great Havemeyher!
      What's Satan done that him you should eschew?
      He too is reeking rich -- deducting _you_.
  
  

















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