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pickthank (PIK-thangk) - n., (arch.) one who curries favor by providing flattery or gossip, a sycophant, a yes-man.
One who picks (i.e., seeks) for thanks. "Some pickthank contrived to let the little great man know what had taken place." First recorded in the 1490s, and used memorably by Shakespeare:
One who picks (i.e., seeks) for thanks. "Some pickthank contrived to let the little great man know what had taken place." First recorded in the 1490s, and used memorably by Shakespeare:
Yet such extenuation let me beg,---L.
As, in reproof of many tales devised,
which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
By smiling pick-thanks and base news-mongers—1 Henry IV, III.2
