Sekirov Dictionary

spaniel

/ˈspænjəl/

noun 2
verb 1
forms 5

noun2

Any of various small to medium-sized breeds of gun dog having a broad muzzle, long, wavy fur and long ears that hang at the side of the head, bred for flushing and retrieving game.
•
A cringing, fawning person.
- Pro[theus].[…]Yet (Spaniel-like) the more she spurnes my loue, / The more it growes, and fawneth on her still — 1590

verb1

•
To follow loyally or obsequiously, like a spaniel.
- J. Sedgewick (1840), Timon, but not of Athens, page 200: “Always spanielling at the heels of power, the mitred Dignitaries displayed, from first to last, the most rancorous hostility against her.”
- David S. Bell (2000), Presidential Power in Fifth Republic France, →ISBN, page 30: “Hence Duverger's famous question about de Gaulle's first spanielling Prime Minister makes political ('M. Debré, existe-t-il?'), but not constitutional sense.”

forms

spanieled · spanielled · spanieling · spanielling · spaniels

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