Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Flattery

Flat′ter·y (·y̆), n.; pl. Flatteries (#). [OE. flaterie, OF. flaterie, F. flaterie, fr. flater to flatter, F. flatter; of uncertain origin. See Flatter, v. t.] The act or practice of flattering; the act of pleasing by artful commendation or compliments; adulation; false, insincere, or excessive praise.

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present. Rambler.

Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver. Burke.

Syn. — Adulation; compliment; obsequiousness. See Adulation.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.