English Explanatory Dictionary

blandish

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole.
  2. To praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up.

Pronunciation

blăndĭsh /ˈblændɪʃ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-blandish.wav

Word forms

blandish blandishes blandishing blandished

Etymology

From Middle English blaundishen (“to flatter; to fawn; to be enticing or persuasive; to be favourable; of the sea: to become calm”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman blaundishen, from blandiss-, the extended stem of Middle French blandir + Middle English -ishen (suffix forming verbs). Blandir is derived from Latin blandīrī (“to fawn, flatter; to delude”), from blandus (“fawning, flattering, smooth, suave; persuasive; alluring, enticing, seductive; agreeable, pleasant”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“erroneous, false; bad, evil”)) + -iō (suffix forming causative verbs from adjectives). The English word is analysable as bland + -ish; compare bland (“agreeable, pleasant, suave; mild, soothing”).

Synonyms

inveigle sweet-talk wheedle blandander blandish butter up cajole fast-talk canoodle carny coax collogue croodle engle fleech honey around honey up hum ingle soap soft-sawder soft-soap stroke tweedle twist whilly word

Derived words

blandisher blandishment
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on B Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary