Heepishly

English

Etymology

From Heepish +‎ -ly: From the Dickens character Uriah Heep, noted for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, the stereotypical yes man.

Adverb

Heepishly (comparative more Heepishly, superlative most Heepishly)

1. In a cloying, insincerely obsequious manner.
   • 1864 July, “The Adventures of a Lady in Search of a Horse”, in London Society, volume VI, number XXXII, page 5:

     Why should he take a sort of imbecile and morbid satisfaction, in appearing in the public chronicles of the day, under the depreciating, and, as it appears to us, ‘ Heep’-ishly ‘ umble ’ title of ‘ a small clergyman ?’

   • 1996 August, Jeff MacGregor, “The Big O”, in Los Angeles Magazine, page 57:

     They're the ones slavering like Wile E. Coyote over that low-fat commissary quesadilla, or Heepishly dry-washing their red little hands while they pore over next month's studio spread sheet.

   • 2012, Piers Brendon, Eminent Elizabethans: Rupert Murdoch, Prince Charles, Margaret Thatcher & Mick Jagger, Random House, page 61:

     Rupert did express shame and contrition, however gruffly, ineptly and Heepishly: 'This is the most humble day of my life.'