Fawn \Fawn\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fawned; p. pr. & vb. n.
Fawning.] [OE. fawnen, fainen, fagnien, to rejoice,
welcome, flatter, AS. f[ae]gnian to rejoice; akin to Icel.
fagna to rejoice, welcome. See Fain.]
To court favor by low cringing, frisking, etc., as a dog; to
flatter meanly; -- often followed by on or upon.
[1913 Webster]
You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like
hounds. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Thou with trembling fear,
Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him.
--Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
fawning
adj : attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery
[syn: bootlicking, obsequious, sycophantic, toadyish]
WordNet (r) 2.0
111 Moby Thesaurus words for "fawning":
abject, adulation, adulatory, apple-polishing, ass-kissing,
backscratching, beggarly, bland, blandishing, blandishment,
blarney, blarneying, bootlicking, brown-nosing, bunkum, buttery,
cajolement, cajolery, cajoling, compliant, compliment,
complimentary, courtierly, courtly, cowering, crawling, cringing,
crouching, deferential, envious, eyewash, fair words, fair-spoken,
fawnery, fine-spoken, flattering, flattery, flunkyism, footlicking,
fulsome, grease, groveling, gushing, handshaking, hangdog,
honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, honeyed phrases,
honeyed words, humble, ignoble, incense, ingratiating,
ingratiation, insincere, insinuating, insinuation, kowtowing,
mealy-mouthed, mealymouthed, mealymouthedness, mean, obeisance,
obeisant, obsequious, obsequiousness, oil, oily, oily-tongued,
on bended knee, palaver, parasitic, parasitism, praise,
pretty lies, prostrate, prostration, servile, slavish, slimy,
slobbery, smarmy, smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sniveling,
soap, soapy, soft soap, soft-soaping, spineless, sponging,
submissive, subservient, sweet nothings, sweet talk, sweet words,
sycophancy, sycophant, sycophantic, timeserving, toadeating,
toadying, toadyish, toadyism, truckling, tufthunting, unctuous,
wheedling, yielding
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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