| 释义 |
boot-lick, bootlick, v. and n. slang.|ˈbuːtlɪk|
[f. boot n.3 + lick v.]
A. v. trans. and intr. To curry favour (with); to toady (to).
B. n. A toady, a sycophant; one who curries favour; also attrib. U.S.
1846J. J. Hooper Adv. Simon Suggs (1851) v. 58 A young man who was inclined to boot-lick any body suspected of having money. 1849Yale Banger 6 Nov. 6 When Boot-lick hypocrites upraised their might. 1850Yale Battery 14 Feb., Then he arose, and offered himself as a ‘boot lick’, to the Faculty. 1885Milnor (Dakota) Teller 1 May 2/3 They must drink, truckle, and bootlick to keep their greatness uppermost. 1932J. Farrell Young Lonigan (1936) ii. 46 He boot-licked around until he became a ward committeeman.
Hence ˈboot-licker, = sense B above; ˈboot-licking vbl. n. and ppl. a. orig. U.S.
1846–47F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott P. (1856) xxvii. 331 Sweezer's very intimit with the squire's folks—a kind o' bootlicker tew 'em. 1849Gallinipper Dec., Those crouching, fawning, boot-licking hypocrites. 1851Hall College Words 24 Some [students are]..very apt to linger after recitation to get a clearer knowledge of some passage. They are Bootlicks, and that is known as Bootlicking. 1890Farmer Slang, Bootlick, subs. (American), a flunkey, hanger-on... In England such a one is called a ‘bootlicker’. Verb. To toady; to hang on; to undertake ‘dirty’ work. 1894Current Hist. (Buffalo, N.Y.) IV. 472 Working his way by scheming and bootlicking into the good graces of..a young idiot of a lord. 1906Westm. Gaz. 27 June 2/1 If boot-licking became permanently fashionable, we should in course of time have various grades of boot-lickers. 1938‘G. Orwell’ Homage to Catalonia viii. 140 No privilege and no boot-licking. 1961L. Mumford City in History v. 154 The Greek eventually turned the citizen into..the cadger and bootlicker. 1964Daily Mail 4 Aug. 3/8 That reverential boot-licking tone which we reserve for the heights of human achievement. |