bootlick
verb
boot·lick ˈbüt-ˌlik 
bootlicked; bootlicking; bootlicks
transitive verb
: to try to gain favor with through a servile or obsequious manner
intransitive verb
: to act obsequiously
bootlicker noun
Synonyms
- apple-polish
- fawn
- fuss
- kowtow
- suck (up)
- toady
- truckle
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
the kind of office in which people feel they have to bootlick in order to get ahead
Recent Examples on the Web Those who delay this fate the longest are bootlicking mediocrities — the survival of the sycophants. 
Michael Gerson, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Mar. 2018
Michael Gerson, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Mar. 2018 Word History
First Known Use
1845, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
bootlicker
noun
as in sycophant
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead she's such a bootlicker that I don't take any of her compliments seriously Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- sycophant
- lickspittle
- toady
- brownnoser
- minion
- henchman
- flunkey
- flunkie
- flunky
- parasite
- fan
- slave
- suck-up
- devotee
- admirer
- sponge
- fawner
- pupil
- lackey
- apparatchik
- disciple
- partisan
- yes-man
- stooge
- apple-polisher
- sponger
- lapdog
- leech
- follower
- adherent
- enthusiast
- worshipper
- satellite
- idolator
- company man
- idolater
- zealot
- hanger-on
- cultist
- groveler
- worshiper
- votary
- partizan
- running dog
- camp follower
- convert
- me-tooer