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• 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.

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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)

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noun

1. an abjectly subservient person; sycophant

brown nose ² British  

noun

1. vet science a form of light sensitization in cattle

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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.

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Etymology

Origin of brown-nose

First recorded in 1935–40; brown + nose

Example Sentences

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

His flat brown nose, wide-set black eyes and triangular ebony brows had appeared in few published photos.

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

Brown Dermot treads upon the lawn, And to the armchair goes, And now the old man's dreams are gone, He smooths the long brown nose.

From Poems by Yeats, W. B. (William Butler)