Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small dog kept as a pet.
- n. Informal One eager to do another's bidding, especially in order to maintain a position of privilege or favor: "a bunch of intellectual lap dogs for anybody who holds a big job in government” ( Mike Barnicle).
Wiktionary
- n. A small dog, kept as household pet, whose light weight and companionable temperament make it both suited and disposed to spend time resting in the comfort of its master's lap; a dog bred to behave in this manner.
- n. idiomatic, by extension A person who behaves in a servile manner, such as a sycophantic employee or a fawning lover.
Examples
“It was an affectation in Mr. Boyse to appear very fond of a little lap dog which he always carried about with him in his arms, imagining it gave him the air of a man of taste.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lap dog’.
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the one-two punch
short (mostly two-word) collocations, pat phrases, idioms &c. that I like
merry chase, glancing blow, beast mode, feedback loop, false flag, dear god, nothing human, deflector shield, hatchet job, not cricket, bang on, a tinker's damn and 250 more...
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Noah's Park
Hello, and Welcome™! Come and visit our most diverse land of our Animalesque™ adventures. Here at Noah's Park™ we have Virtually All You'd Ever Want To See™. An experience that is related to ani...
sheep's eyes, doe-eyed, cat-eyed, bug-eyed, cat's paw, black swan, leapfrog, menagerie, cold turkey, card shark, snail's pace, bull's eye and 362 more...
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Animalia Wordia
Words or short phrases with animal names in them. Since I already have a dedicated list for 'monkey' words I shall leave them out of this one for the moment.
paper tiger, pigeon-hearted, lion-hearted, sacred cow, chicken heart, fraidy cat, scaredy-cat, snake oil, can of worms, snake pit, rat's nest, stool pigeon and 114 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for lap dog.
whichbe A person who is eager to please another at the expense of his or her own needs in order to maintain a position of privilege or favor. May 20, 2008