brown-nose

[ broun-nohz ]

See synonyms for: brown-nose brown-nosing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object),brown-nosed, brown-nos·ing.

to curry favor; behave obsequiously.

verb (used with object),brown-nosed, brown-nos·ing.

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

noun

Also brown-noser. a toady; sycophant.

Origin of brown-nose

First recorded in 1935–40; brown + nose

Compare ass-kissing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use brown-nose in a sentence

Presently a brown nose appeared between the house and my hiding place.
Watched by Wild Animals | Enos A. Mills
Each was coal black except for a V-shaped white mark on the breast and a brown nose.
Camps and Trails in China | Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews
But the mother, who raised her brown nose suddenly from the cool mold out of which she had been digging lily-bulbs, had seen dogs.
The Country Beyond | James Oliver Curwood
Miss Amber had managed to shove her brown nose in front, with Regulator at her saddle girth.
Old Man Curry | Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan
Clay's dog put up his brown nose for a little attention, and got it.
The Gilded Age, Complete | Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

British Dictionary definitions for brown nose (1 of 2)

brown nose

noun

vet science a form of light sensitization in cattle

British Dictionary definitions for brown-nose (2 of 2)

brown-nose

/ slang /

verb

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

noun

an abjectly subservient person; sycophant

Origin of brown-nose

C20: from the notion that a subservient person kisses the backside of the person with whom he or she is currying favour

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with brown-nose

brown-nose

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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