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Verb: suck up
  1. [informal] Attempt to gain favour through obsequious behaviour or flattery
    "He is always sucking up to his boss";
    - fawn, toady, truckle, bootlick [informal], kowtow, kotow, smoodge [Austral, informal]
     
  2. Ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behaviour
    "She is sucking up to the chairman";
    - cozy up [N. Amer], cotton up [archaic], play up [informal], cosy up [Brit, Cdn]
     
  3. Take in, also metaphorically
    "The sponge sucks up water well";
    - absorb, suck, imbibe, soak up, sop up, draw, take in, take up

Derived forms: sucking up, sucked up, sucks up

See also: draw in

Type of: act, blandish, flatter, ingratiate, move

Encyclopedia: Suck up, kick down