lapdog
lapdog is the alternative spelling of lap dog.
Meaning of lap dog
Noun
lap dog (plural lap dogs)
- 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
- 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
- Synonyms:
- ass-kisser, bootlicker, sycophant, toady
Forms of lapdog
| plural | lapdogs |
|---|
Words formed from lapdog
Questions about lapdog
- What is lapdog the alternative spelling of?
- Lapdog is the alternative spelling of lap dog.
Words near lapdog in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lapdog (page history and authors); lap dog (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-lapdog.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lapdog.wav.
Cite this entry: “lapdog.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lapdog. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.