Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US milit.) to play the sycophant, to curry favour, to toady; thus brown-nosing n. and adj.

1939		‘Citadel Gloss.’ in AS XIV:1 Feb. 25/1: brown nose, v. To curry favor, especially for rank.
1948		N. Mailer Naked and Dead 542: They think I brown-nosed and there ain’t a goddam bit of truth in it.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 642: Expecting some of them to come squat on his bunk and start brownnosing him now he had made coporal.
1962		P. Crump Burn, Killer, Burn! 51: Did ol’ brown-nosing Brown let me play without that pressure.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 129: Dont try and brown-nose me Mike. He aint cuttin no stainless.
1979		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Short Timers (1985) 160: We all brown-nose the lifers.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 12: A lot of blokes, no doubt trying to brown-nose their way into my good books.
1986		M. Petit Peacekeepers 67: Get out of here you brown-nosing bootlicker.
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] ‘Mr Trigg, there are procedures. Long service to the Liberal Party, and so forth.’ Trigg wanted to say, And old money. And brown-nosing.
1993		(con. 1918) P. Barker Eye in the Door 201: Hang on a minute. I didn’t come here to brown-nose you or your fucking friend at the War Office.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 250: I wasn’t into brownnosing.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] After brown-nosing some spotty assistant manager [...] we were given a uniform.
1998		(con. 1960s) G. Washington Blood Brothers 134: ‘Maybe you stay close home with girl, now, and let real soldiers fight, no?’ said the brown-nosing major.
2001		Guardian G2 25 June 6: People like me don’t get things like that. I haven’t brown-nosed enough.
2004		T. Winton Turning (2005) 137: He said he wasn’t the brown-nosing sort.
2009		T. Black Gutted 96: You know cracks . . . must have brown-nosed enough of them.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 325: That brownnosing punk. The hell does he care about jurisdiction?
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles : ‘You’ll keep brown-nosing to your mafia buddies as I direct it’.
2018		G. Disher Kill Shot [ebook] [I]nterviews with heavy-duty people today [...] busy brown-nosing.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 194: ‘He brown-nosed Pitt Street [e.g. Glasgow police headquarters] for years’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 313: This was yonks before musicians and their managers started brown-nosing royalty by funding polo teams.