milquetoast
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɪlktəʊst/
ipa: /ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst/
homophone: milk toast
Forms: form: more milquetoast
form: most milquetoast
form: milktoast
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: The truth is that we are cursed with a "milquetoast" Government operating under "milquetoast" policies. Fear has become a national policy.
ref: 1951 July 29, Donald W[illiam] Nicholson, quoting Joseph W[illiam] Martin Jr., “Extension of Remarks of Donald W. Nicholson of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82d Congress, First Session: Appendix (United States House of Representatives), volume 97, part 14, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 31 July 1951, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A4814, column 1:
text: If Bach had any guts, he wouldn't take that. He's too much of a Milquetoast guy.
ref: 1961, Edward C[hristie] Banfield, “The Mythology of Influence”, in Political Influence, Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press of Glencoe, →OCLC; republished New Brunswick, N.J.; London: Transaction Publishers, 2003 (2009 printing), →ISBN, page 302:
text: I should have listened to my mother when she told me to stay out of journalism because of idiot milquetoast jerk reporters like you!
ref: 1994, William G. Lycan, “Fiction and Essence”, in Modality and Meaning, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →ISBN, section 4 (The Modal Properties of Fictional Individuals), page 115:
text: [Al] Lettieri turns [Sally] Struthers on and she strokes his big gun and waves it (and her big tits) in his face and flaunts her partiality for the tough thug Lettieri over her milquetoast husband.
ref: 2001, Barry Gifford, “The Getaway”, in Out of the Past: Adventures in Film Noir, revised edition, Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, →ISBN, page 68:
text: Like that well-meaning mom, parents employ Milquetoast speech whenever they whine, complain, plead, entreat, entice, bribe, and explain themselves persuasively.
ref: 2007, John Rosemond, “Command, Compel, Confirm”, in Mary McNeil, editor, Parenting by the Book: Biblical Wisdom for Raising Your Child, New York, N.Y.: Howard Books, →ISBN, part 3 (Discipline), page 239:
text: Ricky [Nelson] was the perfect commodity: an artist who did not upset milktoast America. He was Elvis [Presley] without grease, without swinging hips.
ref: 2008, Gerard DeGroot, “Meet the New Boss”, in The 60s Unplugged: A Kaleidoscopic History of a Disorderly Decade, London: Macmillan, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Pan Books, 2009, →ISBN, page 393:
text: And if Dick Leonard didn't appreciate Patrick's incisive criticism—if it inspired a streak of vindictiveness in his usually milquetoast boss and Dick ended up making his assistant's life miserable?
ref: 2016, Christopher Kelly, The Pink Bus, Mapple Shade, N.J.: Lethe Press, →ISBN, page 80:
text: Moreover, "Eva" boasts little style beyond what its biggest star is able to bring to the table. Viewers hoping for more of the milquetoast elegance that [Benoît] Jacquot previously brought to the likes of "Farewell, My Queen" and "Diary of a Chambermaid" will be disappointed.
ref: 2018 February 18, David Ehrlich, “‘Eva’ Review: Not Even Isabelle Huppert Playing an Irritated Prostitute Can Save this Limp Melodrama”, in IndieWire, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2019:
synonyms: feeble
ineffectual
insipid
glosses: Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.