4. Butter someone up
To butter someone up means to flatter someone, usually someone from whom you want some favor. The phrase is often used as a more common term for sycophancy and is generally associated with a younger colleague piling on undue praises on his boss in the hopes of a promotion or pay raise. The origin of the phrase is rooted in Hinduism where it was once a practice to throw balls of clarified butter at a statue of a god in the hopes of gaining that god’s favor.
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