milquetoast Hear it!

milquetoast definition

☆ milque·toast (milk′tōst′)

noun

a timid, shrinking, apologetic person

Etymology: after Caspar Milquetoast, character of this sort in a comic strip by H. T. Webster (1885-1952), U.S. cartoonist (< milk toast, toast in warm milk)

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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