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View synonyms for brown-nose

brown-nose

[ broun-nohz ]

verb (used without object)

, brown-nosed, brown-nos·ing.
  1. to curry favor; behave obsequiously.


verb (used with object)

, brown-nosed, brown-nos·ing.
  1. to seek favors from (a person) in an obsequious manner; fawn over.

noun

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

brown nose

1

noun

  1. vet science a form of light sensitization in cattle
“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


brown-nose

2

verb

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

noun

  1. an abjectly subservient person; sycophant
“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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of brown-nose1

First recorded in 1935–40; brown + nose
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Word History and Origins

Origin of brown-nose1

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

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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Example Sentences

Presently a brown nose appeared between the house and my hiding place.

Each was coal black except for a V-shaped white mark on the breast and a brown nose.

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.

Miss Amber had managed to shove her brown nose in front, with Regulator at her saddle girth.

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

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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