Meaning of lap dog | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A small toy dog, kept as household pet, whose light weight and companionable temperament make it both suited and disposed to spend time resting in the comfort of its master's lap; a dog bred to behave in this manner.
2. A person who behaves in a servile manner, such as a sycophantic employee or a fawning lover.
   figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“A lady loses her muff, her fan, or her lap-dog, and so the silly poet runs home to versify the disaster.”

“There might ye ſee the pioney ſpread vvide, / The full-blovvn roſe, the ſhepherd and his laſs, / Lap-dog and lambkin vvith black ſtaring eyes, / And parrots vvith tvvin cherries in their beak.”

“Frau von Greifenstein had seated herself in a straw chair with her parasol, her fan and her lap-dog, a little toy terrier which was always suffering from some new and unheard-of nervous complaint.”

“Steffi is a tricolor King Charles spaniel, an archetypal lap dog and love sponge, barely a foot high and no more than 10 pounds.”

“As a lady's lap-dog Leonard did not excel. He was not an Italian, still less a Frenchman.”

“Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who vacations in Cape Cod, has nevertheless been […] determined to shed the image of his predecessor, Tony Blair, as America’s lap dog.”

“This process, known as "regulatory capture," turns regulators from watchdogs into lapdogs.”

““Doesn't matter. That man is not the leader.” “But he is the main guy on the show.” “He is an actor, Nandor. A simpleton who paints his face. He is an empty-headed puppet who thinks the world loves him, when in actual fact, he is nothing more than a lapdog begging for scraps.” [groans] “No, he is not the leader. That would be another devil who pulls the strings. The halfwit they call the director.””

CEFR level