Toady

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -əʊdi

Origin

Shortened from toadeater.

Full definition of toady

Noun

1. A sycophant who flatters others to gain personal advantage.
• 1929, Virginia Woolf, , Penguin Books, paperback edition, page 61But how could she have helped herself? I asked, imagining the sneers and the laughter, the adulation of the toadies, the scepticism of the professional poet.
• 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, Baseball Joe on the School Nine Chapter 1"Go on, Hiram, show 'em what you can do," urged Luke Fodick, who was a sort of toady to Hiram Shell, the school bully, if ever there was one.
• Charles DickensBefore I had been standing at the window five minutes, they somehow conveyed to me that they were all toadies and humbugs.
2. (archaic) A coarse, rustic woman.

Synonyms

Derived terms

• toadyish

Verb

1. (intransitive, construed with to) To behave like a toady (to someone).

Anagrams

• today, to-day