mealy-mouthed, a.
(ˈmiːlɪˈmaʊðd)
[Cf. mealy a. 8.]
Soft-spoken; not outspoken; afraid to speak one's mind or to use plain terms.
| c 1572 Gascoigne Fruites Warre lxxxvi, So were more meete for mealy mouthed men. 1606 Day Ile of Guls iv. iv, And ile not be mealely mouthed, I warrant em. 1679 ‘T. Ticklefoot’ Trial Wakeman 7 He was not mealy mouth'd, but would..have talked his mind to Knights, or any Body. 1788 Wesley Wks. (1872) VII. 106 Carry your point, whatever it costs. Be not mealy-mouthed. 1855 Tennyson Brook 94 Mealy-mouth'd philanthropies. 1887 Besant The World went xvi. 138 None of your mincing, mealy-mouthed, fine ladies. |
¶ Used for: Over scrupulous.
| 1809 Malkin Gil Blas xii. xiv, You are not mealy-mouthed about receiving a commoner into your pedigree. |
Hence mealy-mouthedly adv., mealy-mouthedness.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, Mealy-mouthedness. 1838 Southey Doctor (1848) 382 He is not given to speak, as his friends the Portuguese say, enfarinhadamente—which is, being interpreted, mealy-mouthedly. 1894 Sat. Rev. 24 Mar. 304 School Boards and other engines of mealy-mouthedness have laid a ban upon some of our old plant names. |