Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
also brownnose, 1939, American English colloquial, said to be military slang originally, from brown (adj.) + nose (n.), "from the implication that servility is tantamount to having one's nose in the anus of the person from whom advancement is sought" [Webster, 1961]. Related: Brown-noser, brown-nosing (both 1950).
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of brownnose English) vb. (alternative spelling of brownnose English)
WordNet
v. flatter with the intention of getting something [syn: butter up]
Usage examples of "brown-nose".
The computer, which was above suspicion of brown-nosing, had colored the power base of the fledgling Brady-Schiavona dynasty the bronze-gold of the dragon which decorated the flanks of Fleet ships.
The brown-noses are the worst, lording it over us spies when our ancestors came here as conquerors and theirs came as slaves, but just about any Yanqui gives me morning-sickness.
Most of the other men in his squad were brown-noses from states where they were still at an economic disadvantage and had neither the funds nor the imagination to dodge the draft.