jock sniffer
1
9.9
- noun
- /dʒɑk ˈsnɪfər/
- Offensive
:
[ofensivo] lameculo de deportistas
- Many jock sniffers follow the team around.
Examples
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He's such a jock sniffer that he memorizes every stat about the team and never misses a game.
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The coach grew tired of jock sniffers pestering him for autographs after practice.
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Nobody wanted to be called a jock sniffer in high school because it meant you had no independence.
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He is such a jock sniffer at every game.
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At every game, the jock sniffer cheered for the athletes, hoping to catch their attention.
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He always wanted to be seen as part of the team, so he acted like a jock sniffer around the popular players.
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Being a jock sniffer meant he'd do anything to win the favor of the star athletes in school.
Synonyms
A person who praises others too much to gain their favor
A person who flatters people in charge to gain favor
How Obsequious
Surface Forms
Morphology
jock + sniffer
The compound directly combines 'jock' (athlete) with the agentive form 'sniffer', so a learner who knows both words could infer someone who pays unusual attention to athletes and thus get a rough idea of the derogatory sense. However, 'sniffer' does not conventionally mean 'admirer' or 'sycophant', and the precise meaning 'excessively flatters or fawns over athletes' is an extended, slangy interpretation that is not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Jock sniffer puts jock (an athlete) next to sniffer (someone who sniffs). One popular image is of a person who gets very close to players, like they are 'sniffing' them to get noticed, so the phrase means 'someone who excessively flatters or seeks the attention of athletes'.