flunkey
noun/ˈflʌŋki/
/ˈflʌŋki/
(also flunky)
(plural flunkeys, flunkies)
- (disapproving) a person who tries to please somebody who is important and powerful by doing small jobs for them
- The minister arrived, surrounded by the usual subservient flunkeys.
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- (old-fashioned) a servant in uniform
- a team of hired flunkeys
Word Originmid 18th cent. (originally Scots): perhaps from flank in the sense ‘a person who stands at one's flank’.
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flunkey