Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Lackey |
LackeyNoun1. A male servant (especially a footman). 2. A person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "lackey" was first used: 1529. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A lackey is a manservant, in its original meaning (attested 1529), which derived from Medieval French laquais "foot soldier, footman, servant." The modern connotation of "servile follower" appeared later, in 1588.In the 20th century rhetoric of some Communist groups, it was used as a derogative word in phrases such as "lackey of Capitalism" or "lackey of the bourgeoisie". What is implied is that the person to which the term is applied, while not himself a member of the bourgeoisie or not deriving high benefits from Capitalism, is still subservient to their goals. Such insults are, in particular, applied to leaders of left-wing parties that seek accommodations with the current economic or social system, or to any leader suspect of doing so.
The term was so over-used that it developed ironic overtones by the end of the century.
See also social-traitor.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Lackey."
Synonyms: LackeySynonyms: crawler (n), flunkey (n), flunky (n), sycophant (n), toady (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Servant | Attendant, squire, usher, page, donzel, footboy; train bearer, cup bearer; waiter, lapster, butler, livery servant, lackey, footman, flunky, flunkey, valet, valet de chambre; equerry, groom; jockey, hostler, ostler, tiger, orderly, messenger, cad, gillie, herdsman, swineherd; barkeeper, bartender; bell boy, boots, boy, counterjumper; khansamah, khansaman; khitmutgar; yardman. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Lackey |
| English words defined with "lackey": Footboy ♦ Lackey moth, Lackeyed, Lackeying, Lackeys, Laguay ♦ Skip kennel. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "lackey": Denys. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "lackey": Laguay. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | A racist lackey of the imperialist ruling circles (Network; writing credit: Paddy Chayefsky) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Lackey and the Lady (1919) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Prepares to disembark from USS Memphis (CL-13) at the Washington Navy Yard, D.C., upon his return from Europe to the United States after his pioneering trans-Atlantic flight, 11 June 1927. Officer standing behind him, to right, is the ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Henry E. Lackey. Behind Capt. Lackey is Commander Eugene E. Wilson, of the Bureau of Aeronautics. Credit: NAVY. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Tolstoy | To a lackey no man can be great, for a lackey has his own conception of greatness. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Lackey" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 94.44% of the time. "Lackey" is used about 18 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 94.44% | 17 | 85,106 |
| Noun (proper) | 5.56% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 18 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "lackey" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Lackey | Last name | 8,000 | 1,595 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Lackey, KY |
Expressions using "lackey": Lackey caterpillar ♦ Lackey moth. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
lackey mercedes | 135 | lackey mercedes valdemar | 3 |
lisa lackey | 47 | lackey mercedes music | 3 |
lackey | 39 | michael lackey | 3 |
john lackey | 19 | james lackey | 3 |
lackey high school | 10 | lackey ky | 3 |
elizabeth lackey | 6 | lackey va | 3 |
brad lackey | 6 | fan fiction lackey mercedes | 2 |
auction lackey | 5 | author mercedes lackey | 2 |
joy lackey | 4 | lackey lyrics mercedes | 2 |
kimberley lackey | 4 | hershman lackey | 2 |
david lackey | 4 | lackey texas | 2 |
lackey lisa nude | 4 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "lackey"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | laro (hanger-on, henchman, hound, lacquey, rascal), lake (henchman, lacquey, stooge), shërbej (act, attend, avail, fetch and carry, lacquey, minister, nurse, oblige, serve, wait, wait on, wait upon), shërbëtor (attendant, bellboy, bellhop, Butler, commissionaire, domestic, flunkey, flunky, footman, groom, gyp, lacquey, man, manservant, menial, valet, Walla, yeoman), servilosem (crawl, lacquey). (various references) | |
Arabic | خادم متزلف, خادم (attendant, boy, factotum, flunkey, flunky, footman, knave, livery, man, manservant, menial, page, retainer, servant, valet, vassal), خدم بخنوع. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | лакейнича, лакей (flunkey, footman, tiger), прислужвам (attend, minister, serve). (various references) | |
Chinese | 巴'狗 (pekingese, sycophant), 卑躬屈膝者. (various references) | |
Czech | lokaj (Butler, footman, henchman, hireling, lacquey), posluhovaè. (various references) | |
Danish | ringspinder (lackey moth, ring spinner, tent caterpillar). (various references) | |
Dutch | lakei, herenknecht. (various references) | |
Esperanto | lakeo. (various references) | |
Faeroese | tænari (attendant, servant, waiter). (various references) | |
Farsi | فراش , نوکری کردن , نوکر (Handyman, Help, Henchman, Man, Manservant, Menial, Servant, Server, Valet, Yesman), چاکری کردن . (various references) | |
Finnish | lakeija (footman). (various references) | |
French | larbin, laquais. (various references) | |
German | Lakai (flunkey, flunky, footman). (various references) | |
Greek | υπηρέτησ (dependant, fag, footman, servant, server, servitor, valet), υπηρετώ (attend, minister, serve, service, wait on), λακέσ (flankey, male servant). (various references) | |
Hungarian | lakáj (flunkey, flunky, footman, lacquey). (various references) | |
Indonesian | antek (henchman). (various references) | |
Italian | lacchè (flunkey, footman, lacquey). (various references) | |
Manx | guilley (batman, boy, caddie, follower, henchman, lad, linkman, nipper, page, satellite, tool, usher, verger, young male servant). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ackeylay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | lisonjear (beslobber, bespatter, blandish, butter, butter up, cajole, coax, cog, flatter, jolly, lacquey, palaver, soft-soap, wheedle), lacaio (flunkey, footman, galley-slave, groom, jackal, jockey, lacquey, menial), adulador (adulatory, creeping, fawning, flatterer, flunkey, groveller, lacquey, mealy-mouthed, obsequious, smarmy, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sugary, toad-eater, toad-eating, toady, truckler, tuft-hunter, unctuous). (various references) | |
Romanian | lacheu (flunkey, footman, lacquey, liveryman). (various references) | |
Russian | лакей (flunkey, flunky, footman, gentleman's gentleman, lacquey, menial). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | lakej (flunkey, flunky, lacquey), sluga (ancillary, attendant, boy, footman, lacquey, menial, servant, servitor, sice, understrapper), pokorno služiti. (various references) | |
Spanish | lacayo (flunkey, footman, lacquey). (various references) | |
Swedish | lakej (flunkey, flunky, footman, lacquey, satellite, underling). (various references) | |
Thai | ผู้ติ"ตาม (follower, tail). (various references) | |
Turkish | yalaka (adulator, adulatory, arse licker, canine, cringing, lickspittle, smarmy), uşak (body servant, do all, domestic help, factotum, flunkey, flunky, footman, helper, henchman, man, manservant, myrmidon, pursuivant, retainer, servant, servitor, valet, varlet, waiter), dalkavuk (adulator, adulatory, apple polisher, bootlicker, brown-nose, bumsucker, creeper, cringing, deadhead, flatterer, flunkey, flunky, groveler, groveller, minion, reptile, silky, soapy, sycophant, toadeating, toady, tufthunter, yes man). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | лакей (footman, lacquey, menial). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tay sai (creature, lacquey, mercenary, pensionary), người hầu (domestic, lacquey, menial, satellite, servant, server), kẻ khúm núm (lacquey), đầy tớ kẻ xu nịnh (lacquey). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Malacosoma neustria, pedisequos. (various references) |
| Arabic | 500-Modern | al-qadi. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | laquais. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "lackey": lackeyed, lackeying, lackeys. (additional references) | |
| |
"Lackey" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Aleksey, backey, clackety, Kliskey, Lacke, lacken, lacker, lackery, lackes, lacky, lakey, lankey, lasky, lckey, leacky, leccy, lecky, Liccy, Lickey, licky, mackeyi. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "lackey" (pronounced la"kē) |
| 3 | -a" k ē | Jacky, tacky, wacky. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-k-l-y" | |
-1 letter: cakey, lacey, leaky, lycea. | |
-2 letters: acyl, alec, alky, cake, caky, calk, clay, kale, lace, lack, lacy, lake, laky, leak, yack, yelk. | |
-3 letters: ace, ale, aye, cay, cel, elk, kae, kay, kea, key, lac, lay, lea, lek, ley, lye, yak, yea. | |
-4 letters: ae, al, ay, el, ka, la, ya, ye. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-k-l-y" | |
+1 letter: lackeys. | |
+2 letters: claylike, creakily, flackery, lackeyed, latchkey. | |
+3 letters: lackeying, latchkeys. | |
+4 letters: blackberry, bricklayer, tracklayer. | |
+5 letters: bricklayers, factorylike, hypokalemic, kinetically, skeptically, tracklayers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Cities 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
