a false accuser, slanderer , (Aristophanes Comicus), etc.; (never used in the modern sense of sycophant , i. e. κόλαξ); generally, a false adviser , (Demosthenes Orator) (Commonly derived from σῦκον, φαίνω, one who informed against persons exporting figs from Attica: better perhaps a fig-shewer , i. e. one who brings figs to light by shaking the tree (the figs having been hidden in the thick foliage); and then, metaphorically, one who makes rich men yield up their fruit by false accusations). (ML)