Definition of "fawn"

fawn¹

/fɔːn/

noun
plural fawns
1. A young deer.
2. A pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn.
3. (obsolete) The young of an animal; a whelp.
  Quotations
  she [the tigress] rageth upon the shore and the sands, for the losse of her fawnes
  1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635
adjective
not comparable
1. Of the fawn colour.
verb
third-person singular simple present fawns, present participle fawning, simple past and past participle fawned
1. (intransitive) To give birth to a fawn.

fawn²

/fɔːn/

verb
third-person singular simple present fawns, present participle fawning, simple past and past participle fawned
1. (intransitive) To exhibit affection or attempt to please.
2. (intransitive) To seek favour by flattery and obsequious behaviour (with on or upon).
  Quotations
  You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds.
  1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]
  Thou with trembling fear, / Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest.
  1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, book 1
  courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him
  1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 23, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
  That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
  1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎
3. (intransitive, of a dog) To show devotion or submissiveness by wagging its tail, nuzzling, licking, etc.
noun
plural fawns
1. (rare) A servile cringe or bow.
2. Base flattery.

Definition of "fawn"

fawn1

noun

Quotations

adjective

verb

fawn2

verb

Quotations

noun

fawn¹

fawn²