Origin: 1770–80; back formation from
adulation, ME < MF < L
adūlātiōn- (s. of
adūlātiō) servile flattery, fawning, equiv. to
adūlāt(
us), ptp. of
adūlārī, -āre to fawn upon (of dogs), appar. a nominal deriv., with
ad- ad-, of an otherwise unattested base +
-iōn- -ion 