toad-eater

toad-eater (plural toad-eaters)

1. Alternative form of toadeater
   • 1793, Jane Austen, Lesley Castle:

     It is very hard that a pretty Woman is never to be told she is so by any one of her own Sex, without that person's being suspected to be either her determined Enemy, or her professed Toad-eater.

   • 1853 April 23, “Concerning Toadies”, in Pen and Pencil, volume 1, number 17, page 532:

     This sort of toadies are arrant loafers, and are like the locusts of the scriptures, with this difference, that whereas clouds of locusts were necessary to do any serious damage a few or even one hungry toady has been known to fasten upon a man of limited means and devour his substance utterly, so as to reduce him to the same negative condition of prosperity as the toad-eater himself.

   • 1873, John Doran, A Lady of the Last Century (Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu), page 53:

     Indeed, as to the dowager, she seems to have no greater joys than E.O. and a toad-eater can give her.

   • 1891, Charles James Wills, The Pit Town Coronet: A Family Mystery, page 70:

     Wolff, my dear, is the toad-eater. In the old days every great man kept a toad-eater; sometimes his functions were highly paid— Wolff's are, I fancy.