Jump To:

• brown-nose
  brown-nose

  verb (used without object)

  to curry favor; behave obsequiously.
• brown nose
  brown nose

  noun

  vet science a form of light sensitization in cattle

brown-nose

American  

[broun-nohz] / ˈbraʊnˌnoʊz /

verb (used without object)

brown-nosed, brown-nosing

1. to curry favor; behave obsequiously.

---

verb (used with object)

brown-nosed, brown-nosing

1. to seek favors from (a person) in an obsequious manner; fawn over.

noun

1. Also brown-noser. a toady; sycophant.

brown-nose ¹ British  

verb

1. to be abjectly subservient (to); curry favour (with)

---

noun

1. an abjectly subservient person; sycophant

brown nose ² British  

noun

1. vet science a form of light sensitization in cattle

---

brown nose Idioms  

1. Solicit favor obsequiously, toady. For example, Harry was always brown nosing, but it didn't help his grades. This term originated in the military in the late 1930s, where it meant “to curry favor”; it alludes to ass-kissing when the backside being kissed is less than clean. Despite its scatological origin, today this slangy term is not considered particularly vulgar.

---

Etymology

Origin of brown-nose

First recorded in 1935–40; brown + nose

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brown-nose brown nose brown-nosed brown-nosing

I don’t want to brown-nose, I just feel like I’ve proven myself as a nominee and now they see me for who I am.

From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2022

We’ve still got lovable Arkady - the underdog and rare example of a police investigator who refuses to brown-nose his superiors.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 4, 2019

“Those that, I guess you might say, brown-nose are the ones that are going to end up receiving the merit pay.”

From Washington Times ● Jan. 14, 2016

I decided to make a deliberate effort to brown-nose him for the next week.

From Time ● Sep. 8, 2011

Jane Hamsher described him as tough guy wannabe but really “a brown nose for power ready to rumble on behalf of the status quo.”

From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2016

You get promoted if you brown nose your way.

From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 15, 2011

Challedon went into the lead; halfway down the backstretch Kayak caught him, poked his brown nose farther & farther ahead as they streaked along against a backdrop of autumn foliage.

From Time Magazine Archive

Billy Barton, by Huon and out of Mary le Bas, owned by Howard Bruce of Baltimore, will carry many thousands of pounds sterling on his dark brown nose.

From Time Magazine Archive

Clay's dog put up his brown nose for a little attention, and got it.

From The Gilded Age, Part 1. by Charles Dudley Warner

"It is appropriate that such a monster as this should have lived on a great continent like North America," brown-nosed Sir Archibald Geikie, a geologist and fellow of the Royal Society.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 4, 2013

"It's just an honour to have my name up there with all the big champions like Wiggins," Porte brown-nosed afterwards.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 12, 2013

"Obviously the manager is extremely disciplined but the manager is also cool and he's got good banter," brown-nosed Defoe, barely even convincing himself, never mind anyone else.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 18, 2010

AI is trained in part on what people like, and people prefer the brown-nosing, says Myra Cheng, a computer-science Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University and lead author of a March study on agreeable AI.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

OK, now we’re heading into potential brown-nosing territory.

From Golf Digest ● Feb. 11, 2020

Flattery — also known as complimenting, sucking up and brown-nosing — has always been a part of life in Washington.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 5, 2018

"Mozart in the Jungle" also depicts some of the more prosaic aspects of orchestral life — chronic financial difficulties, intractable union negotiations and the obligatory brown-nosing of wealthy patrons.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2014

“Well, you’re just brown-nosing now, Victoria!” says Miss Bouman.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman