A lackey is a manservant, in its original meaning (attested 1529, according to the OED), which derived from Medieval French laquais "foot soldier, footman, servant." The modern connotation of "servile follower" appeared later, in 1588 (OED). Servant has a number of meaning: A servant is another word for domestic worker, a person who is hired to provide regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. ... OED stands for Oxford English Dictionary Office of Enrollment & Discipline This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ...

In the 20th century rhetoric of some Communist groups, it was used as a derogative word in phrases such as "lackey of Capitalism" or "lackey of the bourgeoisie". What is implied is that the person to which the term is applied, while not himself a member of the bourgeoisie or not deriving high benefits from Capitalism, is still subservient to their goals. Such insults are, in particular, applied to leaders of left-wing parties that seek accommodations with the current economic or social system, or to any leader suspect of doing so. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Rhetoric (from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar) in Western culture. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Capitalism The page is about the economic system. ... Bourgeoisie (RP [], GA []) in modern use refers to the wealthy or propertied social class in a capitalist society. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition...

The term was so over-used that it developed ironic overtones by the end of the century.

Lackey is also a surname, spelled variously as Lackey, Lecky, Lakie, and Leckie, believed to have originally meant "one who lives at the foot of the stony hills." It appears to be related to a Gaelic word for stone, leac. There is some question over whether it is a coincidence that this word appears in other languages, or whether these are secondary meanings resulting from a political action taken by a person of that name. Since Lackey is said to be an alias affiliated with Clan MacGregor, there may be something to this supposition.

See also

• Social-traitor.