lap dog

plural lap dogs · alternative lap-dog · alternative lapdog

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

   3 more examples

   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

   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.

   1889, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 4, in Greifenstein

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

   2007 December 1, Harry Hurt III, “Proof That Overscheduled Modern Life Isn’t Fit for a Dog”, in New York Times, retrieved 05 Dec 2011

2. figurativelyA 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

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   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

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

   2014, Charles Seife, “Capture”, in John Brockman, editor, What Should We be Worried About?, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 36

   “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.”

   2024 November 25, Max Brockman, “P.I. Undercover: New York” (11:26 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 6, episode 8, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry)

   Synonyms: ass-kisser, bootlicker, sycophant, toady