Ἀφαιρεῖν κροκύδας

[A phrase used] in reference to those doing everything for the sake of flattery. Amongst those who use [it is] Aristophanes: "if someone flatters, turning up and plucking off the threads."¹
Also [sc. attested is the phrase] a)fairei= w)to\s h)\ r(ino/s ["he/she/it deprives [someone] of an ear or of a nose"]; the syntax [is] Attic.²