lickspittle
To play the toady; take the role of a lickspittle to pleaseTo play the toady; take the role of a lickspittle to please (someone).
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» He's such a little lickspittle.
boink · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 sensesTo play the toady; take the role of a lickspittle to please (someone).
льститьlʹstitʹ, подхалимничатьpodxalimničatʹ, подли́зыватьсяpodlízyvatʹsja
Examples
3 sentencesTranslations
3 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
A compounding: lick (“pass one’s tongue over”) + spittle (“saliva”); the verb may derive bA compounding: lick (“pass one’s tongue over”) + spittle (“saliva”); the verb may derive by back-formation from the nominal derivation lickspittling (see below).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
lickspittles, lickspittling, lickspittled, lickspittled| Base form | lickspittle · to lickspittle |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | lickspittles |
| Present participle | lickspittling |
| Past simple | lickspittled |
| Past participle | lickspittled |
regular · Lesson
Lessons 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
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.