lap dog
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈlæpdɒɡ/
Audio (General Australian): (file) Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
- A small toy dog, kept as household pet, whose light weight and companionable temperament make it both suited and disposed to spend time resting in the comfort of its master's lap; a dog bred to behave in this manner.
- 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], chapter XVII, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC:
- A lady loses her muff, her fan, or her lap-dog, and so the silly poet runs home to versify the disaster.
- 1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 3:
- There might ye ſee the pioney ſpread vvide, / The full-blovvn roſe, the ſhepherd and his laſs, / Lap-dog and lambkin vvith black ſtaring eyes, / And parrots vvith tvvin cherries in their beak.
- 1889, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 4, in Greifenstein:
- Frau von Greifenstein had seated herself in a straw chair with her parasol, her fan and her lap-dog, a little toy terrier which was always suffering from some new and unheard-of nervous complaint.
- 2007 December 1, Harry Hurt III, “Proof That Overscheduled Modern Life Isn’t Fit for a Dog”, in New York Times, retrieved 5 December 2011:
- Steffi is a tricolor King Charles spaniel, an archetypal lap dog and love sponge, barely a foot high and no more than 10 pounds.
- (figurative) A person who behaves in a servile manner, such as a sycophantic employee or a fawning lover.
- Synonyms: ass-kisser, bootlicker, sycophant, toady
- 1908–1910, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter 16, in Howards End, New York, N.Y., London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons […], published 1910, →OCLC:
- As a lady's lap-dog Leonard did not excel. He was not an Italian, still less a Frenchman.
- 2007 October 28, Dan Bilefsky, “The special relationship tries to swim the Channel”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
- Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who vacations in Cape Cod, has nevertheless been […] determined to shed the image of his predecessor, Tony Blair, as America’s lap dog.
- 2014, Charles Seife, “Capture”, in John Brockman, editor, What Should We be Worried About?, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 36:
- This process, known as "regulatory capture," turns regulators from watchdogs into lapdogs.
- 2024 November 25, Max Brockman, “P.I. Undercover: New York” (11:26 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 6, episode 8, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry):
- “Doesn't matter. That man is not the leader.” “But he is the main guy on the show.” “He is an actor, Nandor. A simpleton who paints his face. He is an empty-headed puppet who thinks the world loves him, when in actual fact, he is nothing more than a lapdog begging for scraps.” [groans] “No, he is not the leader. That would be another devil who pulls the strings. The halfwit they call the director.”
Derived terms
Translations
small dog suited to resting in its master's lap
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person who behaves in a servile manner — see sycophant
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