fawning

• Rhymes: -ɔːnɪŋ

fawning

1. present participle and gerund of fawn
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.

fawning

1. Seeking favor by way of flattery; flattering, servile.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Shylock: How like a fawning publican he looks ! […]

• fawningly
• fawningness

fawning (plural fawnings)

1. Servile flattery.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Hamlet: No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
     And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
     Where thrift may follow fawning.

   • 1818, Hannah More, The Inflexible Captive:

     Xantippus found his ruin ere it reached him,
     Lurking behind your honours and rewards;
     Found it in your feigned courtesies and fawnings.