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Definition of Mealy-mouthed
1. Adjective. Hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy. "A mealymouthed politician"
Definition of Mealy-mouthed
1. Adjective. prone to speaking evasively, indirectly, or duplicitously; not forthright ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Mealy-mouthed
Literary usage of Mealy-mouthed
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language by William Dwight Whitney (1890)
"She was a fool to be mealy-mouthed where nature speaks so plain. Sir K. L'Estrange.
Angry men hotly In earnest are not usually mealy- mouthed. ..."
2. The Quarterly Review by William Gifford, George Walter Prothero, John Gibson Lockhart, John Murray, Whitwell Elwin, John Taylor Coleridge, Rowland Edmund Prothero Ernle, William Macpherson, William Smith (1847)
"But now, metaphor for metaphor, why is not mealy-mouthed as good as honey-mouthed?—and
indeed Mr. Talbot himself, in his frequent fashion of having two ..."
3. The Living Age by Making of America Project, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (1913)
"... he's one o' the mealy- mouthed sort I do 'low, and he looks for others to be
mealy-mouthed too. I'll make no promises, Mary, but I'm willin' to meet him ..."
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