▪ I. softy, n. dial. or colloq.
(ˈsɒftɪ, -ɔː-)
Also softie, Sc. safty, saftie.
[f. soft a.]
a. A weak-minded or silly person; a simpleton, noodle, gull.
| 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. II. 21 She were but a softy after all, for she left off doing her work in a proper manner. 1888 Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere 33 He is a kind of softie. 1897 P. Warung Old Regime 170 He was a softy then,..and being afraid of the rest of us, we put upon him. |
b. A very soft-hearted person.
| 1886 19th Cent. Jan. 80 The sentimental softy..who loses his heart at seventeen, is a father at eighteen, and at nineteen is the husband of a dirty trollop. 1914 Maclean's Mag. July 88/3 ‘It's cruel,’ said Steve... ‘You're a softy!’ he said. 1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 16 Jan. (1970) A trip that I fear will not meet with the approval of all the members of our family, but which I—maybe I am a softie—very much want her to have. 1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird v. 66 You didn't know Daddy like I did. He was an awful old softie inside. |
c. One who is considered cowardly, weak, or unmanly; a weakling; an effeminate man.
| 1895 Cent. Mag. Oct. 943/2 If the well-initiated inmates discover that he is unwilling to enter into all their schemes and customs, they call him a ‘sucker’ or ‘softy’, and shun his company. 1912 Beerbohm Christmas Garland 16 There was nothing of the softy about Smithers. 1924 J. M. Murry Voyage xii. 227 ‘It's no go,’ he said. ‘I'm not going to bed to-night’. ‘But.’.. She didn't know what to say. Was he a softy? Or was she his first? 1960 T. McLean Kings of Rugby xi. 204 Mr Jenkins declared that the All Blacks of the morrow were ‘softies’ for wearing such impedimenta [sc. shoulder-pads]. 1975 Liverpool Echo (Football ed.) 11 Jan. 8/6 He never lost his temper, but he was no softie. 1979 Beano 2 June 20/3 (caption) Who did that? No-one to be seen except those softies playing soppy games. |
▪ II. ˈsofty, a. rare. N. Amer.
[f. soft a. + -y1.]
Characterized by softness.
| 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxvii. 272 When the place was packed full, the undertaker he slid around in his black gloves with his softy soothering ways. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 16/2 (Advt.), Fringed shoulder pouches in softy suede. |