kiss up

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kiss up

verb kisses up · kissing up · kissed up · kiss-up

idiomatic, transitive To pay false flattery to another, particularly a superior at work, in order to get special attention. Yes, I watched Joe kissing up the boss and was very annoyed when he got my promotion!
Similar: butter up, fawn, toady, apple-polish, bootlick, bow and scrape, brown-nose, dickride, duchess, fawn over, fellate, flannel
idiomatic, intransitive To pay false flattery. He kisses up more than he works.

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MLA

"kiss up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/kiss%20up. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

kiss up. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/kiss%20up

Chicago

"kiss up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/kiss%20up.

BibTeX

@misc{kiss_up_2026,
  title = {kiss up},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/kiss%20up},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}