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You can use the word pantywaist to talk about an ineffective, weak person — especially a man — although it's not very nice and is likely to hurt his feelings. The noun pantywaist has proven to be more enduring in its figurative meaning — an ineffectual or childish man — than in its original meaning, which was a garment of early 20th ...
- Milquetoast
a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive
- Milksop
a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive
- Milquetoast
The earliest known use of the word pantywaist is in the 1910s. OED's earliest evidence for pantywaist is from 1910, in the Lima News (Lima, Ohio). pantywaist is formed within English, by compounding.
a person, especially a man, who is thought of as weak or cowardly (= not brave): Stop spoiling him or you'll turn him into a pantywaist. The mission was directed by some pantywaist colonel with fancy ideas. Synonym. sissy. Fewer examples.
1. : a child's garment consisting of short pants buttoned to a waist. 2. : sissy. pantywaist adjective. Examples of pantywaist in a Sentence. Recent Examples on the Web. These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage.
noun. 1. informal slang. a weak, effeminate man; sissy. 2. (formerly) a child's undergarment consisting of short pants and a shirt that buttoned together at the waist. adjective. 3. weak; fainthearted.
pant•y•waist (pan′ tē wāst′), n. Informal Terms a weak, effeminate man; sissy. Clothing formerly, a child's undergarment consisting of short pants and a shirt that buttoned together at the waist. adj. weak; fainthearted. Informal Terms childish.
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Sep 27, 2024 · pantywaist (plural pantywaists) (informal, dated) An undergarment composed, in part, of panties attached to a waistband.