lap dog

Noun

lap dog (plural lap dogs)

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.
   • A lady loses her muff, her fan, or her lap-dog, and so the silly poet runs home to versify the disaster.1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], chapter XVII, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC
   • 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.1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 3
2. (figuratively) A person who behaves in a servile manner, such as a sycophantic employee or a fawning lover.
   • As a lady's lap-dog Leonard did not excel. He was not an Italian, still less a Frenchman.1908–1910 (date written; published 1910 October 18), E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter 16, in Howards End, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC
   • 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.2007 October 28, Dan Bilefsky, “The special relationship tries to swim the Channel”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   ass-kisser, bootlicker, sycophant, toady