curry favor with

curry favor with (one)

To ingratiate oneself to someone Flattery won't work; the only way of currying favor with him is through hard work.
See also: curry, favor
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

curry favor with someone

to try to win favor from someone. The lawyer tried to curry favor with the judge. It's silly to curry favor with the boss. Just act yourself.
See also: curry, favor
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • curry favor
  • curry favor with (one)
  • curry favor, to
  • curry favour
  • curry
  • in favor of
  • in favor of (someone or something)
  • scratch (one's) back
  • scratch back
  • scratch someone's back
References in classic literature
"I might have expected naught better from a turncoat foreign knave such as thee, who once joined in the councils of De Montfort, and then betrayed his friends to curry favor with the King."
They have heard he isn't coming and they think to curry favor with the great man by stopping away.
Taoyuan City goes the extra mile to curry favor with international tourists by rolling out Taiwan's first free luggage delivery service from Taoyuan International Airport to 30 designated hotels in the city, beginning from now on.
The New York Times reported that the Trump International has 'cemented its status as a gathering spot for prominent conservatives and a place for the president's supporters to see, be seen and curry favor with people in power, one $24 chocolate cigar at a time.'
Japan is a close ally of the US, and Duterte's announcement of a 'separation' from the US and a move to curry favor with China has caused some confusion.
CEO Jack Ma in China, looking to curry favor with the Internet giant ahead of it planned $15 billion IPO.
"District governors lied about the implementation of the indicative plan to curry favor with the government.
Many in Iran have been very suspicious of Russia and accusations that Russia was dragging its feet to curry favor with the Americans have been commonplace over the years.
Bush, eager to curry favor with his conservative religious constituency, dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the meeting.
You may curry favor with the Business Roundtable, but Hill do little to benefit children.
"The capitalist cinema, which promotes a few 'popular stars' to curry favor with the audience ...
A recurring theme throughout Burning Down My Masters' House is that Blair knows how to curry favor with editors, so he gets plum assignments and his stories get good display in the paper.
Despite the $200 million the Bush campaign is raising from corporate America, despite the trillions the administration has showered on the donor class, despite all the contracts that didn't go out for bid to favored corporations like Halliburton, despite shaping one policy after another to curry favor with GOP donors--despite all this, the Bush campaign sits up nights fearing it will be outspent by Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun.
(Machiavelli's other great work was the Discourses on the First Ten Books of the Histories of Titus Livy.) He dedicated The Prince to Lorenzo Medici in an attempt to curry favor with the restored ruler.