Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A toady.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- A mountebank's boy who ate, or pretended to eat, toads (supposed to be poison-ous), in order to give his master an opportunity to show his skill in expelling poison.
- A fawning, obsequious parasite; a mean sycophant; a toady.
Wiktionary
- n. A fawning, obsequious parasite; a mean sycophant or flatterer.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A fawning, obsequious parasite; a mean sycophant; a flatterer; a toady.
Etymologies
- toad + eater, said to allude to an old alleged practice among mountebanks' boys of eating toads (popularly supposed to be poisonous), so that their masters could pretend to effect a cure. Compare toady. (Wiktionary)
- Originally, a charlatan's helper who ate (or pretended to eat) poisonous toads so that his employer could display his prowess in expelling the poison. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“So you may guess that the matter on which he had sent for me was one of the gravest national import - Prince Albert, our saintly Bertie the Beauty, wanted a new aide-de-camp, or equerry, or toadeater-extraordinary, and nothing would do but our new Commander must set all else aside to see the thing was done properly.”
“She was a toadeater here, too, seeking to curry favour with M.P. as with the rest, by fawning on her, in a way for which she could afterwards have hit herself.”
“The temptation to lay hands on the cringing little toadeater grew too strong for me, and I picked him up by the scruff of the collar, -- he was all skin and bones, -- and spun him round like a corpse upon a gibbet, while he cried mercy in a voice to wake the dead.”
“The captain was a rake and a bully and a toadeater, of course, with a loud and profane tongue, and he had had a bottle too many in the duke's travelling-coach.”
“For in the achievements of the table, what toadeater besides can be compared with them?”
“Nor let be supposed that he was in any way a toadeater.”
“At five she had to attend her colleague, Madame Schwellenberg, a hateful old toadeater, as illiterate as a chambermaid, as proud as a whole German Chapter, rude, peevish, unable to bear solitude, unable to conduct herself with common decency in society.”
“When they came, he presented them to a lady, dressed foreign, as a princess of the house of 'Brandenburg: she had a toadeater, and there was another man, who gave himself for a count.”
“Well somehow Vista does run better on my pc, i only use XP due to my tvcard waruikoohii on 04 Mar 2009 - 14: 47 toadeater on 05 Mar 2009 - 23: 59”
“Chris-Gonzales on 02 Mar 2009 - 23: 50 toadeater on 02 Mar 2009 - 23: 55”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘toadeater’.
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Gapeseeds and Muckworms - Compound De...
A list of compound derogatory names such as gapeseed, muckworm and lickspittle. Your one-word contributions to this list are welcome.
See sionnach's list derogatory terms I should use ...gapeseed, muckworm, lickspittle, makeweight, bootlicker, backscratcher, apple-polisher, backslapper, brownnoser, rakeshame, yesman, freeloader and 293 more...
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WF - nominal compounds (figurative)
An extensive list I have been working on for quite some time. Feel free to add more of the kind if you miss any.
brainstorming, upside, downside, goldplating, bikeshedding, mudslinging, downgrading, headhunter, streamlining, mainstreaming, gerrymandering, frontloading and 503 more...
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that's just beastly!
cat-o-nine-tails, snake in the grass, puppy love, white elephant, crocodile tears, monkey business, keep the wolf fro..., culture vulture, black sheep of th..., scapegoat, ugly duckling, swan song and 260 more...
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Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
sycophant, yes man, brown noser, adulator, courtier, flatterer, toady, flunky, parasite, fawner, lickspittle, heeler and 49 more...
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Interesting Etymology
Words with interesting etymology behind.
gnaborretni, toadeater, taikonaut, ostracise, big, tawdry, ketchup, prolific, shibboleth
Tweets
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