pander
- a person who furnishes clients for a prostitute or supplies persons for illicit sexual intercourse; procurer; pimp.
- a person who caters to or profits from the weaknesses or vices of others.
- a go-between in amorous intrigues.
- to act as a pander; cater basely: to pander to the vile tastes of vulgar persons.
- to act as a pander for.
Origin of pander
Examples from the Web for pander
Contemporary Examples of pander
But if I overdo it and I pander and I put something up just because the Twilight crowd is going to like it, I will get punished.
All Ham had to do was sit still for two-and-a-half hours, sound vaguely professional, and pander occasionally to his base.
And no one is confusing Obama with Bill Clinton, who knew how to maneuver—or, if one prefers, how to pander.
The pander itself is a depressing, if familiar, window into conservative Republican thought on the Middle East.
Democrats could use a sunny day as an excuse to destroy the free market, redistribute income and pander to lobbyists.
Historical Examples of pander
But, sir, surely you would not pander to a scoundrelly taste?
LavengroGeorge Borrow
But we for our part shall not pander either to the force-worshippers or to the masses.
The New SocietyWalther Rathenau
Does he not pander to my every fancy, and procure me whatever I momentarily desire?
Man and MaidElinor Glyn
The world,” said Sara, “in the long run, despises those who pander to it.
Robert OrangeJohn Oliver Hobbes
But art should not seek to pander to our ignorance; art should represent only truths.
ZanoniEdward Bulwer Lytton
pander
- (intr foll by to) to give gratification (to weaknesses or desires)
- (archaic when tr) to act as a go-between in a sexual intrigue (for)
- a person who caters for vulgar desires, esp in order to make money
- a person who procures a sexual partner for another; pimp
Word Origin for pander
Word Origin and History for pander
"arranger of sexual liaisons, one who supplies another with the means of gratifying lust," 1520s, "procurer, pimp," from Middle English Pandare (late 14c.), used by Chaucer ("Troylus and Cryseyde"), who borrowed it from Boccaccio (who had it in Italian form Pandaro in "Filostrato") as name of the prince (Greek Pandaros), who procured the love of Cressida (his niece in Chaucer, his cousin in Boccaccio) for Troilus. The story and the name are medieval inventions. Spelling influenced by agent suffix -er.
"to indulge (another), to minister to base passions," c.1600, from pander (n.). Related: Pandered; pandering.
Pander
(pän′dər)Christian Heinrich 1794-1865- Russian-born German anatomist and pioneer embryologist. With Karl Ernst von Baer he discovered the distinct structural layers of the chick embryo.