flatter
FLATTER, n. The person or thing by which any thing is flattened.
FLATTER, v.t. Flatter may be from the root of flat, that is, to make smooth, to appease, to soothe. L. plaudo. Perhaps flat and plaudo are from one root, the radical sense of which must be to extend, strain, stretch.
1. To soothe by praise; to gratify self-love by praise or obsequiousness; to please a person by applause or favorable notice, by respectful attention, or by any thing that exalts him in his own estimation, or confirms his good opinion of himself. We flatter a woman when we praise her children.
A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet. Prov. 29.
2. To please; to gratify; as, to flatter ones vanity or pride.
3. To praise falsely; to encourage by favorable notice; as, to flatter vices or crimes.
4. To encourage by favorable representations or indications; as, to flatter hopes. We are flattered with the prospect of peace.
5. To raise false hopes by representations not well founded; as, to flatter one with a prospect of success; to flatter a patient with the expectation of recovery when his case is desperate.
6. To please; to soothe.
A concert of voices - makes a harmony that flatters the ears.
7. To wheedle; to coax; to attempt to win by blandishments, praise or enticements. How many young and credulous persons are flattered out of their innocence and their property, by seducing arts!
flattered
FLATTERED, pp. Soothed by praise; pleased by commendation; gratified with hopes, false or well founded; wheedled.
flatterer
FLATTERER, n. One who flatters; a fawner; a wheedler; one who praises another, with a view to please him, to gain his favor, or to accomplish some purpose.
When I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does; being then most flattered.
The most abject flatterers degenerate into the greatest tyrants.
flattering
FLATTERING, ppr.
1. Gratifying with praise; pleasing by applause; wheedling; coaxing.
2. a. Pleasing to pride or vanity; gratifying to self-love; as a flattering eulogy. The minister gives a flattering account of his reception at court.
3. Pleasing; favorable; encouraging hope. We have a flattering prospect of an abundant harvest. The symptoms of the disease are flattering.
4. Practicing adulation; uttering false praise; as a flattering tongue.
flatteringly
FLATTERINGLY, adv.
1. In a flattering manner; in a manner to flatter.
2. In a manner to favor; with partiality.