kiss ass

Idioms

Also, kiss up to. Seek or gain favor by fawning or flattery, as in I am not going to kiss as to get the raise I deserve, or If I could find a good way to kiss up to the publisher, my book would be well promoted. The first, a vulgar slangy usage, was first recorded in 1705 as kiss arse, which is still the British usage. The variant, a euphemistic blend of kiss ass and suck up to, dates from the late 1900s.

Example Sentences

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kiss ass

“The level of academic freedom from bureaucratic interference is preferable in Hong Kong. You don’t need to kiss ass to government administrators so much,” he says.

From Nature ● May 22, 2018

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