Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep proper noun: a fictional character, Uriah Heep, in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield, noted for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, the stereotypical yes man.
Proper noun
Uriah Heep
- A fictional character, Uriah Heep, in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield, noted for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, the stereotypical yes man.
Noun
Uriah Heep (plural Uriah Heeps)
- Someone like the fictional character Uriah Heep.
- She is the Uriah Heep of society, humbling herself before the Church and the Law, whispering sweetly her vow to honor and obey, hugging her chains as a chattel and a slave.1869, "Semi-Detached Wives", The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, New Series, Vol IX, no. 3 (March 1869) page 352
- It seems to me that misinterpretation of this 'customer is always right' business has too frequently resulted in a complete misunderstanding of the relations of merchant and customer and has made ‘Uriah Heeps’ out of too many shopkeepers.1922 January 28, “Talks with the Doctor”, in Drug Trade Weekly, volume V, number 4, page 184
- Synonyms:
- bootlicker, brown noser, yes man
Verb
Uriah Heep (third-person singular simple present Uriah Heeps, present participle Uriah Heeping, simple past and past participle Uriah Heeped)
- To be a yes man, in the style of Uriah Heep.
- But he'd Uriah-Heeped himself into yet another corner from which she refused to extricate him.1978, Susan Darter Hunt, "A Matter of Irreconcilable Differences", The North American Review, volume 263, No. 1 (Spring, 1978) page 34
- Time and time again, as Silbert Uriah Heeped his way through the trial, every other word to Sirica modified with a fawning "if the court please" until everyone was sick of it, Glanzer would pull on his coattail, whisper in his ear, and steer him from the brink of error.1980, G. Gordon Liddy, Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy, St. Martin's Press
- Synonyms:
- brownnose
Synonyms of Uriah Heep
Forms of Uriah Heep
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | Uriah Heeps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | Uriah Heeps |
| present participle | Uriah Heeping |
| past participle | Uriah Heeped |
| past | Uriah Heeped |
Words formed from Uriah Heep
Questions about Uriah Heep
- What does Uriah Heep mean?
- Uriah Heep means a fictional character, Uriah Heep, in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield, noted for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, the stereotypical yes man.
- What part of speech is Uriah Heep?
- Uriah Heep can be a proper noun, a noun or a verb.
Words near Uriah Heep in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Uriah Heep (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.
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Cite this entry: “Uriah Heep.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/uriah_heep. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.