Forms: α. 6 lakay, ey, -ye, lackeie, lacquie, 6–7 lackie, 6–8 lacky, 7 lacquay, -aie, la(ck)quay, lacquy, laquey, 6– lackey, lacquey; pl. 6– lackeys, lacqueys, etc.; also 6 lackeis, -yes, 7 lack(e)yes, 7–8 laquies, 6–9 lackies. β. Sc. 6 alakay, allacay, 7 allakey. [ad. F. laquais, in OF. pl. laquaiz, laquetz, also alacays, (h)alaques (whence the β forms), in 15th c. a kind of foot-soldier, subsequently a footman, servant. The etymology is obscure; cf. Sp., Pg. lacayo; It. lacchè is from Fr.]
1. A footman, esp. a running footman; a valet.
α. 1529. Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.), 52. His wiffe, her gentle woman or mayde, two yowmen, and one lackey.
1596. Munday, Silvayn’s Orator, 354. How manie Noble men doe burst their lacquise legs with running.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, III. 1067. Lackies before her chariot must run.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 159. The lackey rides, and the Prince goes on foote.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 44, ¶ 1. The Coachman with a new Cockade, and the Lacqueys with Insolence … in their Countenances.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., II. Notes Wks. I. 160. He was wronged by his lacquey, and overcharged by his washerwoman.
1849. Cobden, Speeches, 10. Popes and potentates have run away in the disguises of lacqueys.
1855. Motley, Dutch Rep., II. ii. (1866), 146. He was not her lackey, and … she might send some one else with her errands.
β. 1538. Sc. Ld. Treasurer’s Acc., in Pitcairn, Crimin. Trials, I. 292. ix Pagis, iiij Allacayis, iij Mulitaris.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, II. 1035. At ilk bridle ane proper Alakay.
1600. Sc. Acts Jas. VI. (1816), IV. 212/2. Ane allakey put ane steil bonnet on his heid.
b. fig. † A constant follower (obs.); one who is servilely obsequious, a toady.
1588. Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 19. I thinke Simonie be the bishops lacky.
1651. Biggs, New Disp., § 72. 37. There are some flowers that are the Laquies of the sun.
1692. Washington, Milton’s Def. Pop., iii. (1851), 100. In Politicks no Man more a Lackey and Slave to Tyrants than he.
1880. Spurgeon, J. Ploughm. Pict., 25. It is right to be obliging, but we are not obliged to be every man’s lackey.
2. A hanger-on, a camp follower. Obs. or arch.
1556. Acc., in Sharpe, Cov. Myst. (1825), 193. Payd to xiiij gonners and a lakye lixs.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 427. Slaues,… Lackies, and other Stragglers that followed the camp.
1600. Holland, Livy, V. viii. 185. Like to lawlesse lackies that follow the campe.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., II. i. 122. The … lackeys and dross of the camp—false alike to Henry and to Edward.
3. = lackey-moth (see 4).
1857. Stainton, Brit. Butterflies & Moths, I. 156. Clisiocampa castrensis (Ground Lackey)…. C. neustria (Lackey).
1869. E. Newman, Brit. Moths, 42. The Lackey (Bombyx neustria).
4. attrib. and Comb., as lackey-boy, -brat, -slave; also lackey-like adj. and adv.; lackey-caterpillar, the caterpillar from which the lackey-moth is developed; lackey-moth, a bombycid moth of the genus Clisiocampa (for the origin of the name see quot. 1868).
1575. Turbervile, Faulconrie, 371. By misfortune or negligence of your *lackey boyes.
1677. Lovers Quarrel, 73, in Hazl., E. P. P., II. 256. Away this lacky boy he ran.
1599. Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. iii. Wks. 180. Shall thy Dads *lacky brat Weare thy Sires halfe-rot finger in his hat?
1603. J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosm. (Grosart), 37/1. Sweat before Vertue *lacky-like doth rin To ope the gate of Glory sempiterne.
1829. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), II. 19. The Sieur Longchamp’s … most lackey-like Narrative.
1868. Wood, Homes without H., xxx. 577. The *Lackey moths are so called on account of the bright colours of the caterpillars, which are striped and decorated like modern footmen.
1890. Eleanor A. Ormerod, Injur. Insects (ed. 2), 292. The caterpillars of the Lackey Moth are injurious to the leafage of apples.
a. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, V. 207. Like a *lackey slave.
Hence various nonce-words. † Lackeyan a., of or pertaining to a lackey; Lackeyed ppl. a., attended by lackeys; Lackeyism, the service or attendance of lackeys; Lackeyship, the condition or position of lackeys; lackeys collectively.
1620. Shelton, Quix., IV. XV. 120. The little blind Boy,… Love, would not lose the occasion offered to triumph upon a Lackyan Soul.
1762. Goldsm., Cit. W., lxi. [lxiv.] ¶ 5. For our pleasure the lacquied train … moves in review.
1830. Examiner, 706/2. Creating a hereditary lackyship in the servant’s hall.
1843. Le Fevre, Life Trav. Phys., III. II. xiv. 64. As he is awkward in all his operations he cannot enter the ranks of lackeyship.
1843. Carlyle, in Froude, Life Lond. (1884), I. 312. Sound sleep for a few hours, and a lackey to awaken you at half-past six. It is over now, all that lackeyism, thank God!
