Noun
lackey (plural lackeys)
- A footman, a liveried male servant.
1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 198:My dearest father,—I say nothing of them,—but I dare to speak of myself,—I can never be a monk,—if that is your object—spurn me,—order your lacqueys to drag me from this carriage,—leave me a beggar in the streets to cry “fire and water,”—but do not make me a monk.
1884, John Ruskin, “By the Rivers of Waters”, in “Our Fathers Have Told Us.”: Sketches of the History of Christendom for Boys and Girls who have been Held at Its Fonts, part I (The Bible of Amiens), Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, pages 30–31:St. Martin [of Tours] looks round, first, deliberately;—becomes aware of a tatterdemalion and thirsty-looking soul of a beggar at his chair side, who has managed to get his cup filled somehow, also—by a charitable lacquey. St. Martin turns his back on the Empress, and hobnobs with him!
- A fawning, servile follower.
- Synonyms: lickspittle; see also Thesaurus:loyal follower
Translations
liveried male servant
- Albanian: lake (sq) m
- Arabic: خَادِمْ m (ḵādim)
- Armenian: սպասավոր (hy) (spasavor)
- Belarusian: лаке́й m (lakjéj), лёкай m (ljókaj) (dated)
- Bulgarian: лаке́й (bg) m (lakéj)
- Catalan: lacai m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 奴僕/奴仆 (zh) (núpú), 僕役/仆役 (zh) (púyì), 僕人/仆人 (zh) (púrén)
- Czech: lokaj m
- Danish: lakaj c
- Dutch: lakei (nl) m
- Estonian: lakei (et)
- Finnish: lakeija (fi)
- French: laquais (fr) m
- Georgian: ლაქია (lakia)
- German: Lakai (de) m
- Greek: λακές (el) m (lakés), υπηρέτης (el) m (ypirétis)
- Hungarian: lakáj (hu), inas (hu), komornyik (hu)
- Irish: gíománach m
- Italian: lacchè (it) m
- Japanese: 従僕 (じゅうぼく, jūboku)
- Korean: 하인(下人) (ko) (hain), 종 (ko) (jong)
- Latvian: lakijs m
- Lithuanian: liokajus m
- Macedonian: лакеј m (lakej)
- Maori: tonotono
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: lakei m
- Persian: نوکر (fa) (nokar), پادو (fa) (pâdow)
- Polish: lokaj (pl) m
- Portuguese: lacaio (pt) m
- Romanian: lacheu (ro) m
- Russian: лаке́й (ru) m (lakéj)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: лакеј m
- Roman: lakej m
- Slovak: lokaj m
- Slovene: lakaj (sl) m
- Spanish: lacayo m
- Swedish: lakej (sv) c
- Thai: คนใช้ (th) (kon-chái), ขี้ข้า (th) (kîi-kâa)
- Ukrainian: лаке́й m (lakéj), льо́кай m (lʹókaj) (dated)
- Vietnamese: đầy tớ (vi)
|
a fawning, servile follower
- Albanian: please add this translation if you can
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Belarusian: халу́й m (xalúj), лаке́й m (lakjéj), пры́хвасцень m (prýxvascjenʹ)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 走狗 (zh) (zǒugǒu), 狗腿子 (zh) (gǒutuǐzi), 走卒 (zh) (zǒuzú), 奴才 (zh) (núcái)
- Danish: lakaj c
- Dutch: lakei (nl) m, slaafje (nl), voetvaag
- Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
- Estonian: please add this translation if you can
- French: laquais (fr) m
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: Lakai (de) m
- Hungarian: lakáj (hu), talpnyaló (hu), csatlós (hu), szolgalélek (hu)
- Icelandic: höfðingjasleikja f
- Italian: leccaculo (it) m, lacchè (it), lecchino (it) m
- Japanese: 走狗 (ja) (そうく, sōku)
- Korean: 주구(走狗) (ko) (jugu)
- Latvian: please add this translation if you can
- Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: lakei m
- Polish: sługus (pl) m, przydupas (pl) m (vulgar)
- Portuguese: lacaio (pt) m
- Romanian: lacheu (ro) m
- Russian: холу́й (ru) m (xolúj), лаке́й (ru) m (lakéj), при́хвостень (ru) m (príxvostenʹ)
- Spanish: lacayo m
- Swedish: lakej (sv) c
- Tagalog: alipores (tl), tuta (tl)
- Thai: ลิ่วล้อ (th) (lîu-lɔ́ɔ), ลูกสมุน, สมุน (th) (sà-mǔn)
- Turkish: please add this translation if you can
- Ukrainian: лаке́й m (lakéj), холу́й m (xolúj), лаки́за m or f (lakýza), лаку́за m or f (lakúza), при́хвостень m (prýxvostenʹ)
|
Verb
lackey (third-person singular simple present lackeys, present participle lackeying, simple past and past participle lackeyed)
- (transitive) To attend, wait upon, serve obsequiously.
c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:[T]he ebbed man, ne'er loved till ne'er worth love,
Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion.
1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:So dear to Heav'n is Saintly chastity,
That when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried Angels lacky her […]
- (intransitive, obsolete) To toady, play the flunky.