gnathonic (na-THON-ik) adjective

   Sycophantic; fawning.

[From Latin gnathonicus, derivative of Gnathon- (stem of Gnatho) name of
a sycophantic character in the Roman comedy Eunuchus by Terence.]

   "And that's why today any myrmidon, any gnathonic sycophant, any
   obsequious assistant or menial hanger-on is called a toadeater or, more
   often, a toady."
   Michael Gartner, Words, Newsday, Dec 27, 1987.

This week's theme: fictional characters who live on in the dictionary.

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A man there was, tho' some did count him mad / The more he cast away, the
more he had. -John Bunyan, preacher (1628-1688) [Pilgrim's Progress]

Q: Some time ago you featured a quote about foo in AWAD. Could you resend it?
A: You may search the archives at http://wordsmith.org/awad/search.html
   or browse them at http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html All the
   words and quotes since the beginning of AWAD are available there.

Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/gnathonic.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/gnathonic.ram