toady

Etymology 1

From a shortening of toadeater + -y.

noun

1. A sycophant who flatters others to gain personal advantage, or an obsequious, servile lackey or minion.
   [T]he appearance of only three coaches, each drawn by four horses, was rather trying for poor Lady Scott. They contained Mrs Coutts – her future lord the Duke of St Albans – one of his Grace's sisters – a dame de compagnie (vulgarly styled a Toady) 1901, John Gibson Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart, volume 1, page 569
   "Go on, Hiram, show 'em what you can do," urged Luke Fodick, who was a sort of toady to Hiram Shell, the school bully, if ever there was one. 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, chapter 1, in Baseball Joe on the School Nine
2. (archaic) A coarse, rustic woman.

verb

1. (intransitive, construed with to) To behave like a toady (to someone).
   He had toadied to the late Mr William Morris: he had toadied to various members of the Fabian Society, he had toadied at first to the great Bransdon himself. 1911, Daniel Chaucer [pseudonym; Ford Madox Ford], The Simple Life Limited

Etymology 2

toad + -y

adj

1. toadlike
   The bath is of greatest advantage in these chronic cases, with an earthy complexion and toady skin, if I am allowed thus to express its appearance. 1874, Transactions, number 19, page 141

noun

1. Diminutive of toad.