The person or thing by which any thing is flattened.

To soothe by praise; to gratify self-love by praise or obsequiousness; to please a person by applause or favorable notice, by respectful attention, or by any thing that exalts him in his own estimation, or confirms his good opinion of himself. We flatter a woman when we praise her children. A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet. Proverbs 29:5.

To please; to gratify; as, to flatter one’s vanity or pride.

To praise falsely; to encourage by favorable notice; as, to flatter vices or crimes.

To encourage by favorable representations or indications; as, to flatter hopes. We are flattered with the prospect of peace.

To raise false hopes by representations not well founded; as, to flatter one with a prospect of success; to flatter a patient with the expectation of recovery when his case is desperate.

To please; to soothe. A concert of voices - makes a harmony that flatters the ears.

To wheedle; to coax; to attempt to win by blandishments, praise or enticements. How many young and credulous persons are flattered out of their innocence and their property, by seducing arts!