Also 7 tody, 9 toadey. [f. TOAD sb., with dim. or familia suffix -Y, as in slavey, etc.; in sense 2 perh. sb. use of TOADY a.]

1

  † 1.  A little or young toad. Obs.

2

c. 1690.  Satire, in Kirkton, Hist. Ch. Scotl., VI. (1817), 199, note. Beastly bodies, senseless nodies, venemous todies.

3

  2.  A servile parasite; a sycophant, an interested flatterer; also, a humble dependant; = TOAD-EATER 2, 2 b.

4

1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, II. xv. You know what a Toadey is? That agreeable animal which you meet every day in civilised society.

5

1834.  Lytton, Pompeii, I. Notes 172. The umbra or shadow—who accompanied any invited guest—and who was … usually a poor relative, or a humble friend—in modern cant ‘a toady.’

6

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, xi. When I come into the country … I leave my toady, Miss Briggs, at home. My brothers are my toadies here.

7

1883.  W. J. Stillman, in Cent. Mag., Oct., 827/1. A toady to the superior and a bully to the inferior grades.

8