Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The seeking of favor through flattery; obsequiousness.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Left, right, or in-between, it's all just apple-polishing nonsense. jim
CNN Poll: Americans say Obama respected by world leaders 2010
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By turns, Ignatieff sounded like Demosthenes, thundering down condemnation on a government that has repeatedly failed Canadians, and then like an apple-polishing pupil asking for a report card from the head master. ...
pissed off round-up 2009
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(Plus, the entire thing makes her look like that smart but totally uncool apple-polishing little girl that we remember from junior high school.)
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But once you've started, don't spout sound bites from it the way Tony Blair did, or carry it around the way he did -- like some apple-polishing graduate student.
Living Politics: Eight New Year's Resolutions For The President 2007
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You get instead merely the apple-polishing conformists.
Nitwit of the Day! Miss Snark 2006
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That's not morality, that's just sucking up, apple-polishing, looking over your shoulder at the great surveillance camera in the sky, or the still small wiretap inside your head, monitoring your every move, even your every base thought. '
The God Delusion Dawkins, Richard, 1941- 2006
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He had more people like Tenet, who was constantly apple-polishing and telling him what he wanted to hear, telling him the intelligence would be a slam dunk when, clearly, it wasn ` t.
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It ` s a slam dunk, almost like apple-polishing more than Bush wanted to hear.
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They believe that there is some special magic, some quick springboard to success; they mistakenly think that it can be won by bootlicking, apple-polishing, yessing higher authority, playing office politics, throwing weight around, ducking the issues, striving for cheap popularity, courting publicity or seeking any and all means of grabbing the spotlight.
The Armed Forces Officer Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2 United States. Dept. of Defense
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Rais Yatim has taken the art of apple-polishing to another level.
Malaysiakini :: News 2010
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