obsequious

adj

Etymology: From Middle English obsequyous, from Latin obsequiōsus (“complaisant, obsequious”), from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (cf. sequel).

1. Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.

   “Personally I felt shy and uncomfortable at this obsequious adoration, and I read the same feeling in the faces of Lord John and Summerlee, but Challenger expanded like a flower in the sun.”

   “Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.”

2. Obedient; compliant with someone else's orders or wishes.

   “Our ladies were situated as well as it was possible; they had good servants, splendid rooms, obsequious attendants, and had become habituated to the country, so that the loss of the Count was not any thing of moment beyond the pleasure of his society;[…]”

3. Of or pertaining to obsequies, funereal.

   “[…] the ſuruiuer bound / In filliall obligation for ſome tearme To doe obſequious ſorrowe […]”