Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To curry favor with in an obsequious manner; fawn on.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun idiomatic One who brownnoses; one who sucks up; a bootlicker, ass-kisser, sycophant.
  • verb To flatter someone (especially a superior) in an obsequious manner, and to support their every opinion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From the image of an obsequious person whose nose becomes soiled with excrement in kissing the buttocks of someone from whom favor is sought.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Scatological.

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Examples

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  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

    transitive verb

    Etymology: from the implication that servility is equivalent to having one's nose in the anus of the person from whom advancement is sought

    Date: circa 1939

    : to ingratiate oneself with : curry favor with

    — brownnose noun

    — brown·nos·er noun

    February 29, 2008