Uriah Heep

1. 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.

plural Uriah Heeps

1. broadlySomeone 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

   2 more examples

   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

   In the conclusion, the poet expresses his hopes that, in the future, Russia and Britain might find themselves locked in a friendly embrace, but only after all the Uriah Heeps of the British nation have been buried.

   2006, Andrei Rogachevskii, “The West in Russian literature”, in Andrew Hammond, editor, Cold War Literature: Writing the Global Conflict, Routledge

   Synonyms: bootlicker, brown-noser, yes-man

present singular third person Uriah Heeps · participle present Uriah Heeping · participle past Uriah Heeped · past Uriah Heeped

1. 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

   2 more examples

   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

   And Strang sitting there before the Mayor in the leather-mahogany sanctum sanctorum of City Hall, bowing and scraping, genuflecting like a mandarin, dizzy with adulation, and Uriah Heeping before that exalted personage, His Honor the Mayor.

   2013, Herbert Lieberman, City of the Dead, Open Road Media, page 199

   Synonyms: brown-nose