pantywaist
English
Adjective
pantywaist (not comparable)
- (informal, dated, especially of a male person) Weak, timid, effeminate, ineffectual.
- His rough, burly father was mortified by the lad's pantywaist behavior.
Noun
pantywaist (plural pantywaists)
- (informal, dated) A children's undergarment composed, in part, of panties attached to a waistband.
- 1929 April 29, "The Altman Sale of Children's Underwear" (display advertisement), The New York Times, p. 16:
- Lace trimmed panty waists—50 cents.
- 1929 April 29, "The Altman Sale of Children's Underwear" (display advertisement), The New York Times, p. 16:
- (derogatory, dated) An ineffectual, weak, or timid person, especially a boy or young man; a sissy.
- 1943 Jan. 24, Hal Borland, "'Baedekers' for Our Fighters: So you're going abroad, says Uncle Sam," The New York Times, p. SM14:
- Don't be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. The English language didn't spread across the oceans and over the mountains and jungles and swamps because these people were pantywaists.
- 1943 Jan. 24, Hal Borland, "'Baedekers' for Our Fighters: So you're going abroad, says Uncle Sam," The New York Times, p. SM14:
References
- “pantywaist” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
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