Meanings
plural toadeaters · alternative toad-eater · alternative toad eater
- archaicderogatoryA fawning, obsequious parasite; a low sycophant or flatterer.
1819, J. Wilson, Complete Dictionary of Astrology "Horary Questions", Of Theft. a chaplain, tutor, toadeater, or some superior servant
2 more examples
You're too zealous a toadeater, and betray yourself.
1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 24, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLCNot that he was what is commonly called a Screw; that is to say he was not a mere screw; but he was acute and malicious; saw everybody's worth and position at a glance; could not bear to expend his choice wines and costly viands on hangers-on and toad-eaters, though at the same time no man encouraged and required hangers-on and toad-eaters more.
1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter II, in Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book III, page 19
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From toad + eater, said to allude to an old alleged practice among mountebanks, who would hire a boy to eat (or pretend to eat) toads, which many had considered poisonous. The toadeater (or "toady") would pretend to writhe in pain, until the quack gave him some "medicine" and pretended that the boy was cured. Compare toady.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
toadeater. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toadeater
“toadeater.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toadeater. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toadeater,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toadeater.
Source: toadeater on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.