fawning
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɔːnɪŋ
Verb
fawning
- present participle of fawn
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
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Adjective
fawning
- Seeking favor by way of flattery; flattering, servile.
- c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I scene iii:
- Shylock: How like a fawning publican he looks ! […]
- c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I scene iii:
Derived terms
Noun
fawning (plural fawnings)
- Servile flattery.
- c. 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III scene ii:
- Hamlet: No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp, / And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee / Where thrift may follow fawning.
- Hannah More
- Xantippus found his ruin ere it reached him, / Lurking behind your honours and rewards; / Found it in your feigned courtesies and fawnings.
- c. 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III scene ii:
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