apple-polisher

apple-polisher
n
a flatterer, someone who curries favour. The term comes from the image of the ingratiating pupil who polishes an apple carefully before presenting it to a teacher. The tradition of 'an apple for the teacher' was really practised in rural USA before World War II, but the term is common in all English-speaking areas. It is some-times in the form of a verb, as in 'she's been apple-polishing again'. In Britain it is often shortened to polisher.
► 'I had few qualifications for Hollywood; I was immoderately slothful, had no facility for salesmanship or apple-polishing, and possessed a very low boiling point.' (S. J. Perelman, quoted in Groucho, Har-po, Chico & sometimes Zeppo, Joe Ad-amson, 1973)

Contemporary slang . 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • apple\ polisher — • apple polisher • apple polishing See: polish the apple …   Словарь американских идиом

  • apple polisher — ☆ apple polisher n. Slang a person who curries favor by gifts, flattery, etc., as a child bringing his teacher an apple * * * …   Universalium

  • apple polisher — ☆ apple polisher n. Slang a person who curries favor by gifts, flattery, etc., as a child bringing his teacher an apple …   English World dictionary

  • apple polisher — apple .polisher n AmE spoken someone who tries to gain something, become popular etc by praising or helping someone else without being sincere …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • apple-polisher — n. a flatterer. □ Doesn’t that wimpy apple polisher know how stupid he looks? □ Everybody at the office seems to be an apple polisher but me …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • apple polisher — ;[apple polishing] See: POLISH THE APPLE …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • apple polisher — ;[apple polishing] See: POLISH THE APPLE …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • apple-polisher — noun see apple polish …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • apple-polisher — noun A person who apple polishes …   Wiktionary

  • apple polisher — noun someone who humbles himself as a sign of respect; who behaves as if he had no self respect • Syn: ↑bootlicker, ↑fawner, ↑groveller, ↑groveler, ↑truckler • Derivationally related forms: ↑truckle (for …   Useful english dictionary

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