Heepishly

English

Etymology

From Heepish +‎ -ly: From the Dickens character Uriah Heep, noted for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, the stereotypical yes man.

Adverb

Heepishly (comparative more Heepishly, superlative most Heepishly)

  1. In a cloying, insincerely obsequious manner.
    • 1864 July, “The Adventures of a Lady in Search of a Horse”, in London Society, volume VI, number XXXII, page 5:
      Why should he take a sort of imbecile and morbid satisfaction, in appearing in the public chronicles of the day, under the depreciating, and, as it appears to us, ‘ Heep’-ishly ‘ umble ’ title of ‘ a small clergyman ?’
    • 1996 August, Jeff MacGregor, “The Big O”, in Los Angeles Magazine, page 57:
      They're the ones slavering like Wile E. Coyote over that low-fat commissary quesadilla, or Heepishly dry-washing their red little hands while they pore over next month's studio spread sheet.
    • 2012, Piers Brendon, Eminent Elizabethans: Rupert Murdoch, Prince Charles, Margaret Thatcher & Mick Jagger, Random House, page 61:
      Rupert did express shame and contrition, however gruffly, ineptly and Heepishly: 'This is the most humble day of my life.'
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