sycophaga

[Gr.sykon=a fig, and phage in =to eat.] Entom.: A genus of Chalcid ide. The species are common in the south of Europe, where they aid in impregnating the female flowers of the fig-tree. sỹc'-ô-phăn-çỹ, s . [English sycophan (t); -cy.] The character, manners, or characteristics of a sycophant; mean tale-bearing; obsequious flattery; servility. "Sycophancy could only cringe and fawn upon the victor of Bosworth Field." -London Daily Telegraph. sc-ô-phănt, *sic'-ô-phant, subst . [Lat. sycophant a an informer, a tale-bearer, a sycophant, from Gr sykophantes =a fig-shower, or an informer about figs, hence a common informer, a slanderer, a false adviser. The history of the word is lost, but the etym. seems evident: Greek sykon a fig, and phaino to show.] *1. An informer. "The poor man that hath nought to lose is not afraid of the sycophant or promoter."-P. Holland: Plutarch's Morals, 205. 2. A parasite; a servile flatterer, especially of princes or great men; hence, a deceiver, an impostor. "All the envoys who had been sent from White hall to Versailles had been mere sycophants of the great king."Macaulay. Hist . Eng ., ch. xxiii. *syc-o-phănt, v . i . & t . [SYCOPHANT, 8.] A. In trans.: To play the sycophant. "His sycophant ing arts being detected, that game is not to be played a second time; whereas a man of clear reputation, though his barque be split, has something left toward setting up again."-Government of the Tongue. B. Transitive : 1. To play the sycophant toward; to flatter meanly or servilely. 2. To inform on or tell tales of to gain favor; to calumniate. "He makes it his first busine to tamper with his reader by sycophant ing and misnaming the work of his adversary."- Milton : Apology for Smectymnuus. IMG:content-0711.png:[blocks in formation]