Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Sycophant

Syc′o-phant

,
Noun.
[L.
sycophanta
a slanderer, deceiver, parasite, Gr. [GREEK] a false accuser, false adviser, literally, a fig shower; [GREEK] a fig + [GREEK] to show: cf. F.
sycophante
. The reason for the name is not certainly known. See
Phenomenon
.]
1.
An informer; a talebearer.
[Obs.]
“Accusing sycophants, of all men, did best sort to his nature.”
Sir P. Sidney.
2.
A base parasite; a mean or servile flatterer; especially, a flatterer of princes and great men.
A
sycophant
will everything admire:
Each verse, each sentence, sets his soul on fire.
Dryden.

Syc′o-phant

,
Verb.
T.
[CF. L.
sycophantari
to deceive, to trick, Gr. [GREEK].]
1.
To inform against; hence, to calumniate.
[Obs.]
Sycophanting
and misnaming the work of his adversary.
Milton.
2.
To play the sycophant toward; to flatter obsequiously.

Syc′o-phant

,
Verb.
I.
To play the sycophant.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sycophant

SYC'OPHANT

,
Noun.
[Gr. a fig, and to discover.] Originally, an informer against those who stole figs, or exported them contrary to law, &c. Hence in time it came to signify a talebearer or informer, in general; hence, a parasite; a mean flatterer; especially a flatterer of princes and great men; hence, a deceiver; an impostor. Its most general use is in the sense of an obsequious flatterer or parasite.

SYC'OPHANT

Similar Results