ICYMI: Headlines editors probably wish they could take back “Milk toast” has little substance, cannot hold its shape, and is practically liquefied. Apparently it was popular, judging by this 1855 description : “This delicacy is made of slices of toast, buttered and sprinkled with pepper and salt, and laid in a dish of warm milk, which serves as a sauce to the rest.” (Yum!) The Oxford English Dictionary says it’s an American invention, tracing its first appearance to 1840. “Milk toast,” also called “milk sop,” is just what it sounds like: toast softened with milk. By literary extension, things can be “milquetoast” as well. Merriam-Webster defines “ milquetoast ” as “a timid, meek, or unassertive person,” the implication being that a “milquetoast” person is afraid to stand up, worried about backlash. Other “milquetoast” appearances referred to a golfer, Hedda Gabler ’s husband, and Snapchat. ICYMI: Reporter reveals ‘luckiest break’ in investigation of cult behind Netflix’s Wild Wild CountryĪnd speaking of a hotly contested Republican race for a Supreme Court seat, a columnist for the Oconomowoc Enterprise in Wisconsin decried the “ milquetoast efforts” of the people running one candidate’s campaign. In the Charlotte Observer, one Democratic congressional candidate called the other “a milquetoast (and) Republican lite,” and a “privileged and elitist rich kid.” Only a month earlier, an editorial criticized him because he “sent a spokeswoman out to issue a milquetoast defense of the special counsel.” “Now you have the chance to go far beyond milquetoast observations,” the Times said in an editorial on the House Speaker’s announcement that he would not run for re-election. Send us feedback about these examples.Paul Ryan, The New York Times seems to think, is not a brave man. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'milquetoast.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Ryan Randazzo, The Arizona Republic, 24 Nov. 2023 Republicans only have a single-person majority in both the House and Senate, her threat is milquetoast. Matthew Love, Vulture, This was the question that loomed over the mostly milquetoast fare of the rest of the broadcast. 2021 There are white families, too, though one (Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Andrew Dismukes) is written as a pack of dopes and the other (Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner) is milquetoast. Wired, 7 July 2022 Some might scoff at its inclusion on milquetoast Baroque compilations and its paint-by-numbers imagery of birds, storms, and boozing peasants, as helpfully described in the sonnets that accompany each seasonal concerto. 2021 The public response from many of these Texas companies has been milquetoast. 2023 But even Vandemoer was a milquetoast presence in his brief time on camera, and was awkwardly inserted into the re-creations, playing himself. 2022 Former vice president Mike Pence appears to be spicing up his reputation as America's most milquetoast Christian conservative with a little crass homophobia directed toward transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg. 2021Īdjective And if viewers didn't anticipate Odenkirk taking this kind of role, their surprise is shared in Nobody by Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksei Serebryakov), a ruthless Russian mafia chief who can't believe a seemingly milquetoast guy like Hutch is snuffing out entire squadrons of his best foot soldiers. Peter Tonguette, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Jan. 2023 Disney may look milquetoast next to the freewheeling spirit of the Fleischers. 2023 Sandoval issues a milquetoast statement to the world via his Instagram page, apologizing to everyone but Madix. 2023 Also, as the name of a 1948 movie and the title of Bertie Higgins’s milquetoast 1981 easy-listening hit. 2023 In 2020, Ivan Safronov, a former journalist for Kommersant, a once serious, hard-hitting daily in Moscow that had morphed into something more safe and milquetoast, was arrested on charges of espionage. 2023 Kat is a mean girl masquerading as milquetoast, and an equal-opportunity offender in trashing men’s looks, too. 2022 On paper, everything looks good, but in person and behind the wheel, the Sienna comes off as milquetoast. Erin Griffith, New York Times, Way back in the winter of 2008, just months after Mad Men premiered as its first original drama series, AMC rolled out Gilligan’s cinematic crime drama Breaking Bad, about a milquetoast chemistry teacher whose terminal cancer diagnosis unlocked a limitless potential for cruelty and violence. Noun Many of Pi’s comments have that milquetoast quality of taking many words to say nothing.
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