Why this word is great
FLEECH — [Verb] To coax or wheedle someone, especially by using flattery or insincere words. From Middle Dutch fletsen (“to flatter, fawn”), kin to the English flatter. Unlike beflum (which drapes its target in ornate, theatrical praise) or cajole (which needles with a mix of charm and persistence), fleech is the art of buttering up with just enough sweetness to loosen a grip. It is the shopkeeper’s honeyed chuckle as he slides a trinket across the counter, the stray cat’s slow blink and arched back before it sidles closer for scraps, or the way a child’s voice climbs an octave when asking for just one more story—all calculated tenderness, soft as a thumb pressed to a bruise.