curry favor
To seek to gain favor by flattery or attentionTo seek to gain favor by flattery or attention.
» He's always trying to curry favor with the boss.
AlanF_US · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(idiomatic)To seek to gain favor by flattery or attention.
sich einschmeicheln, sich anbiedern, sich einschleimen
заи́скиватьzaískivatʹ, подли́зыватьсяpodlízyvatʹsja
seek favor by fawning or flattery
Examples
6 sentencesHe's always trying to curry favor with the boss.
He is always attempting to curry favor with the boss.
The official got the sack for currying favor with the contractors.
deDer Beamte wurde gefeuert, weil er sich bei den beauftragten Firmen anbiederte. — Tamy
I’ll never quit, never curry favor, and never look back!
Many businessmen, in order to curry favor with government officials, will shower them with gifts and money.
Translations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Originally from a French poem Roman de Fauvel, written in the early 1300s; Fauvel was a coOriginally from a French poem Roman de Fauvel, written in the early 1300s; Fauvel was a conniving stallion, and the play was a satire on the corruption of social life. The name Fauvel points to the French fauve (“chestnut, reddish-yellow, or fawn”), another sense of fauve meaning the class of wild animals whose coats are at least partly brown, and the medieval belief that a fallow horse was a symbol of deceit and dishonesty. The phrase curry Fauvel, then, referred to currying (“combing”) the horse, and was altered (as folk etymology) by later speakers to curry favor.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
curries favor, currying favor, curried favor, curried favor| Base form | curry favor · to curry favor |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | curries favor |
| Present participle | currying favor |
| Past simple | curried favor |
| Past participle | curried favor |
irregular
Synonyms
3 synonyms- seek favor by fawning or flattery:curry favourcourt favorcourt favour
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle