mindmap root((谄媚)) fawn implies seeking favor by servile flattery or exaggerated attention and submissiveness: waiters ~ing over a celebrity. toady suggests the attempt to ingratiate oneself by an abjectly menial or subservient attitude: never missed an opportunity to ~ to his boss. truckle implies the subordination of oneself and one's desires, opinions, or judgments to those of a superior: the rich are used to seeing others ~. cringe suggests a bowing or shrinking in physical or mental distress or in fear or servility: ~ing before a blow. cower suggests a display of abject fear before someone who threatens or domineers: as an adult he still ~s before his father.