backscratcher
nounEtymology From back + scratcher; also, by surface analysis, backscratch + -er.
1
A long slender rod with a rake-like device on one end, sometimes in the form of a human hand, designed to let a person scratch their own back.
2
Figuratively, Uncommon A participant in corruption, such as a briber or pay-to-play participant.
- Pierre-Gilles had made a name for himself, but also wanted to give credit to his collaborators, whom he was always careful to cite in lectures, to the point that, for a joke, Daniel Saint-James and his colleague Gobalakichena Sarma created a "backscratchers club" named the 'Société de la brosse à reluire mutuelle' (SABRM) — mutual backscratching society — appointing Pierre-Gilles as its honorary chairman. The members of this club, which included the other musketeers, numerous physicists from Saclay, etc., were obliged to mention the other members in all their lectures, even if they hadn't contributed to the results!2011, Laurence Plévert, “Team Leader”, in Pierre-Gilles de Gennes: A Life in Science, World Scientific, →ISBN, pages 119-120: