to lick someone's boot
- idiom
- Offensive
:
hacer la pelota a alguien
- He always licks someone's boot to get ahead in his career.
Examples
-
During the meeting, she seemed to be licking the CEO's boot with her compliments.
-
To gain favor, he decided to lick the principal's boot by praising her policies.
-
Lick my boots, Niles.
Synonyms
26
8.0
To praise someone to get their approval
16
7.9
Say nice things to someone to get their help or a reward
13
4.2
Say nice things to someone to get what you want
10
7.4
To try to get someone to like you by praising them or being too helpful
8
9.5
To try to please someone in power to get an advantage
4
8.2
To flatter someone in power without meaning it to get their favor
3
9.4
Behave too politely and humbly to please someone
1
9.1
Flatter and obey someone in power to get their favor
1
8.7
To praise or obey someone in power to get their support
Acting too friendly and praising people in power to get favors
To give praise that is not real to get a favor
To show too much respect and do what a person in power wants
To praise someone too much to get their favor in a rude way
Act too friendly and eager to please someone to get a favor
To praise and obey a powerful person to get their support
To beat someone completely or praise them too much
Antonyms
How Obsequious
42
7.4
- Offensive
- Offensive
4
8.2
- Informal
26
8.0
100
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
lick + someone's + boot
The literal image of 'lick' + "someone's" + 'boot' evokes a humiliating, submissive action that maps onto servility, so learners can partly infer a meaning related to extreme flattery or subservience. However, the specific pragmatic sense 'to flatter or behave servilely to gain advantage' is metaphorical and culturally marked, so it is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Lick someone's boot comes from the image of someone literally licking a powerful person's boot to show extreme obedience. That's why it means 'to flatter' or 'behave like a servant' to 'gain advantage'.