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. A little or young toad. Obs.
c. 1690. Satire, in Kirkton, Hist. Ch. Scotl., VI. (1817), 199, note. Beastly bodies, senseless nodies, venemous todies.
2. A servile parasite; a sycophant, an interested flatterer; also, a humble dependant; = TOAD-EATER 2, 2 b.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, II. xv. You know what a Toadey is? That agreeable animal which you meet every day in civilised society.
1834. Lytton, Pompeii, I. Notes 172. The umbra or shadowwho accompanied any invited guestand who was usually a poor relative, or a humble friendin modern cant a toady.
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.
1883. W. J. Stillman, in Cent. Mag., Oct., 827/1. A toady to the superior and a bully to the inferior grades.