curry favor

Cultural  

1. “Currying favor” with someone means trying to ingratiate oneself by fawning over that person: “The ambassador curried favor with the dictator by praising his construction projects.”

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curry favor Idioms  

1. Seek gain or advancement by fawning or flattery, as in Edith was famous for currying favor with her teachers. This expression originally came from the Old French estriller fauvel, “curry the fallow horse,” a beast that in a 14th-century allegory stood for duplicity and cunning. It came into English about 1400 as curry favel —that is, curry (groom with a currycomb) the animal—and in the 1500s became the present term.

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Example Sentences

And what are the incentives for Republican lawmakers to curry favor with these figures?

From Slate • May 7, 2026

In a dismally unwise attempt to curry favor and get a lighter sentence, he gives the authorities the name of the perpetrator—making up the tale.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

President Trump has a reputation for trying to curry favor with investors.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 27, 2026

Hence, it is reasonable to think they will use January to tidy up their affairs and reset investor expectations to curry favor with Elliott.

From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025

Some of the highest-ranking, she saw, carried little manikins like Iofur’s rag-doll daemon, trying to curry favor, perhaps, by imitating the fashion he’d begun.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman