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milquetoast

 - 4 dictionary results

milque⋅toast

[milk-tohst]
–noun (sometimes initial capital letter)
a very timid, unassertive, spineless person, esp. one who is easily dominated or intimidated: a milquetoast who's afraid to ask for a raise.
Also called Caspar Milquetoast.


Origin:
1935–40, Americanism; after Caspar Milquetoast, a character in The Timid Soul, comic strip by H. T. Webster (1885–1952), American cartoonist
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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milque·toast   (mĭlk'tōst')   
n.  One who has a meek, timid, unassertive nature.

[After Caspar Milquetoast, a comic-strip character created by Harold Tucker Webster (1885-1952).]
milque'toast'y adj.
Word History: An indication of the effect on the English language of popular culture is the adoption of names from the comic strips as English words. Casper Milquetoast, created by Harold Webster in 1924, was a timid and retiring man named for a timid food. The first instance of milquetoast as a common noun is found in the mid-1930s. Milquetoast thus joins the ranks of other such words, including sad sack, from a blundering army private invented by George Baker in 1942, and Wimpy, from J. Wellington Wimpy in the Popeye comic strip, which became a trade name for a hamburger. If we look to a related form of popular culture, the animated cartoon, we must of course acknowledge Mickey Mouse, which has become a slang term for something that is easy, insignificant, small-time, worthless, or petty.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
milquetoast [ˈmɪlktost]

  1. n.
    an ineffectual man; a shy coward; an effeminate male. : This little milquetoast goes up to the biker, looks at him sort of sad like, and then karate chops him into a quivering pulp.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

milquetoast 
1938, from Caspar Milquetoast, cartoon character created by H.T. Webster in 1924 as "The Timid Soul." Probably a variation of milksop (see milk).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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