milquetoast
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɪlktəʊst/
ipa: /ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst/
homophone: milk toast
Forms: form: milquetoasts
form: milktoast
form: Milquetoast
Etymology: Named after Caspar Milquetoast, a character from the comic strip The Timid Soul, created by American cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster (1885–1952) and first published in 1924; the character was named after the American dish milk toast (“a food consisting of toasted bread in warm milk”).
Senses: examples: text: We know that theology must be common to all believers, but again we also know that some enjoy only milquetoast (german milchspeise), while others can eat solid food, and that one and the same truth is apprehended in different ways, for it is not possible to accommodate all these ways to the grasp of all, while not depriving them of the truth itself.
ref: 1895, “The twenty-second Psalm”, in Dr. Martin Luther’s Complete Writings (english translation), St. Louis, Mo.; : Ministry of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States., column 1231:
text: The Milquetoasts of this world seldom wake up in time to get tough effectively, Mr. [Harold Tucker] Webster fears. [...] Webster considers him a worthy citizen—of the kind that had better begin to show a little more spunk before it is too late.
ref: 1939 October 21, Alexandra Kropotkin, “To the Ladies”, in Fulton Oursler, editor, Liberty, volume 16, number 42, New York, N.Y.: Liberty Publishing, →OCLC, page 51, column 1:
text: The Milquetoasts of this world are the victims of the steamrollers. I used to be numbered among the Milquetoasts and was periodically used or flattened! I came to realize, however, that even though Christians are to be humble and cooperative, they also are accountable to God to use their time wisely, to do what He wants them to do, and to stand up for what is right and biblical.
ref: 1988, Muriel Larson, Me and My Pet Peeves, Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, →ISBN, page 79:
text: That scientists favored international control of the atom made conservatives even more mistrustful. J[ohn] Parnell Thomas rued the surrender of control to such "a group of milktoasts."
ref: 1990, Richard M. Fried, “Two Eras, and Some Victims”, in Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1991, →ISBN:
text: Of the thirteen films he [Douglas Fairbanks] made independently, the most noteworthy was WILD AND WOOLLY (1917), a melodramatic story about an Eastern milquetoast who becomes a frontier hero.
ref: 1990, Frank Manchel, “A Representative Period of American Film (1913–1919)”, in Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography, volume 2, Rutherford; Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; London; Toronto, Ont.: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 1400:
text: [Clare Boothe Luce] was no woman to be married to a milquetoast, and Henry R[obinson] Luce, cofounder and colorful, forceful honcho of the nascent Time empire, was anything but that.
ref: 1996, Louis Baldwin, “Clare Boothe Luce: Powerful Politician (1903–1987)”, in Women of Strength: Biographies of 106 who have Excelled in Traditional Male Fields, A.D. 61 to the Present, Jefferson, N.C.; London: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 42:
text: Initially, our heroine hooks up with some milktoast of a guy with lots of money and little personality. Then he comes along—a man she can't push over, a man her wealth and social position can't influence.
ref: 2004, Elizabeth A. Ford, Deborah C. Mitchell, “The Ladder of Class”, in The Makeover in Movies: Before and After in Hollywood Films, 1941–2002, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 91:
synonyms: word: softy
word: wimp
word: wuss
word: big girl's blouse
word: candy-arse
word: candy-ass
word: milksop
word: milquetoast
word: namby
word: namby-pamby
word: nestle-cock
word: pansy
word: pantywaist
word: poon
word: pushover
word: pussy
word: sissy
word: softy
word: tenderling
word: weakling
word: weenie
word: wimp
word: wuss
word: wussy
glosses: A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness.
Derived terms: milquetoasty
Related terms: milk drinker