Toady
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A sycophant who flatters others to gain personal advantage, or an obsequious, servile lackey or minion. derogatory
""But who is she, can you tell me?" / "Some fair-skinned speculation of old Montreville's, I suppose, that she has got either to toady herself, or take in some of her black friends with.—Is it possible you have never heard of old Mother Montreville?""
- 2 Diminutive of toad. childish, diminutive, form-of
- 3 a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage wordnet
- 4 A coarse, rustic woman. archaic
- 1 To behave like a toady (toward someone). intransitive, transitive
"But bless your hearts, we "ain't so green," though lots of us of all sorts toady you enough certainly, and try to make you think so."
- 2 try to gain favor by cringing or flattering wordnet
- 1 toadlike
"The bath is of greatest advantage in these chronic cases, with an earthy complexion and toady skin, if I am allowed thus to express its appearance."
Example
More examples"I see you brought your toady along."
Etymology
From a shortening of toadeater + -y.
From toad + -y.
More for "toady"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.