lapdog

or lap dog

[ lap-dawg, dog ]

noun
  1. a small pet dog that can easily be held in the lap.

  2. a person or group that submits to the influence of another; a servile follower: Regulatory agencies are supposed to be watchdogs, but some have become lapdogs of the industries they oversee.

Origin of lapdog

1
First recorded in 1635–45; lap1 + dog

Words Nearby lapdog

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

How to use lapdog in a sentence

  • She patted the hand which he had laid upon the arm of her chair, very much as if it had been a pet lapdog.

    The Gold Brick | Ann S. Stephens

British Dictionary definitions for lapdog

lapdog

/ (ˈlæpˌdɒɡ) /


noun
  1. a pet dog small and docile enough to be cuddled in the lap

  2. informal a person who attaches himself to someone in admiration or infatuation

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