---
title: lackey — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «lackey» in the school dictionary: A lackey is a male servant in uniform who waits on rich people and opens doors for them. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# lackey

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lackey, male servant, person, lackeys, you · **What happens:** be, wait, open, obey, bring, do · **To what, where:** male servant, uniform, doors, person, others, great gates

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«lackey» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [lackey in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/lackey.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A lackey is a male servant in uniform who waits on rich people and opens doors for them.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lackey:m1:1
# text = A lackey is a male servant in uniform who waits on rich people and opens doors for them.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lackey	lackey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	male	male	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	uniform	uniform	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	waits	wait	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	opens	open	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
16	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a lackey | a male servant |  | uniform |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **wait** | present | a male servant |  |  |  |  | on rich people | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on people=Location |
| 3 | **open** | present | a male servant *not said here* | doors |  |  |  | for doors *= door* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A lackey can also be a person who obeys others weakly and without thought.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lackey:m2:1
# text = A lackey can also be a person who obeys others weakly and without thought.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lackey	lackey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	also	also	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	obeys	obey	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	weakly	weakly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	without	without	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | can | a lackey | a person |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **obey** | present | a person | others |  |  |  | weakly *property* | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent other=Theme |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The lackeys opened the great gates.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lackey:x1:1
# text = The lackeys opened the great gates.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lackeys	lackey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | past | the lackeys | the great gates |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location gate=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The lackey brought the king a silver cup.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lackey:x2:1
# text = The lackey brought the king a silver cup.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lackey	lackey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	cup	cup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | past | the lackey | a silver cup | the king |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent king=Destination cup=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Do not be a lackey for anyone.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lackey:x3:1
# text = Do not be a lackey for anyone.
1	Do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	lackey	lackey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for anyone | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | infinitive |  | a lackey |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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