Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A child's undergarment consisting of a shirt and pants buttoned together at the waist.
- n. Slang A boy or man who is considered weak or effeminate.
Wiktionary
- adj. informal, dated, especially of a male person Weak, timid, effeminate, ineffectual.
- n. informal, dated A children's undergarment composed, in part, of panties attached to a waistband.
- n. pejorative, dated An ineffectual, weak, or timid person, especially a boy or young man; a sissy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive
Examples
“But this query is precisely the kind of pantywaist handwringing that rightly goes down in the flood of the he-man Homeland Security strutting that always follows these incidents.”
“Right-wing talk show hosts brayed that he was exhibiting a "pantywaist" response to the "crisis.”
Robert Creamer: The First 100 Days -- How Obama Scores on the Nine Qualities of Leadership
“Rosica really means by the phrase “civility, charity, mercy and politeness” is a kind of pantywaist political correctness, void of testicular fortitude, that is so afraid to identify and call out blatant evil in the public square.”
“Tonight we learned that Sarah Palin doesn't have time for that kind of pantywaist liberal chit chat.”
“The Europeans are calling him a 'surrender monkey' and a 'pantywaist'.”
“Obama has a superiority complex AND he's a "pantywaist" for going on "apology tours" and bowing to show respect to Saudi leaders.”
“All you pantywaist social nerds can kiss my grits!”
Why I Hate the Booth Babe Story, a Guest Editorial by Holly A.
“The State Department, however, was meeting the Red menace with “basic timidity,” he complained to a friend, and Dean Acheson, who became its secretary in 1949, was a “pantywaist,” he told Jones.”
“Alas, we have a lightweight Harvard lawyer who is too much of a pantywaist to achieve most of his pie-in-the-campaign-sky feel-good agenda.”
Petraeus: Violence will ratchet up in Afghanistan as troops arrive
“January 4th, 2010 2: 12 pm ET what a total scumbag loser. only cowardly crooks switch parties after being elected. a pantywaist has more guts!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pantywaist’.
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Public List: Body Metaphors
Phrases that use body parts metaphorically.
neck of the woods, bone of contention, mouth of a river, teeth of the storm, heart of the matter, foot of the bed, eye of the storm, dogleg hole, finger lakes, headwaters, foothills, knik arm and 212 more...
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Gapeseeds and Muckworms - Compound De...
A list of compound derogatory names such as gapeseed, muckworm and lickspittle. Your one-word contributions to this list are welcome.
See sionnach's list derogatory terms I should use ...gapeseed, muckworm, lickspittle, makeweight, bootlicker, backscratcher, apple-polisher, backslapper, brownnoser, rakeshame, yesman, freeloader and 293 more...
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WF - nominal compounds (figurative)
An extensive list I have been working on for quite some time. Feel free to add more of the kind if you miss any.
brainstorming, upside, downside, goldplating, bikeshedding, mudslinging, downgrading, headhunter, streamlining, mainstreaming, gerrymandering, frontloading and 503 more...
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The insulting ones
ingrate, sycophant, inane, wanton, pompous, vitriolic, ghastly, cesspool, abhor, highfalutin, obsequious, insidious and 25 more...
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Chennessy's Words
philistine, messianic, dyad, cult, bourgeois, blot, ploy, polyglot, lingua franca, cumbersome, lumber, petit-bourgeois and 446 more...
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Unsavoury Types
insults, epithets, etc.
drotchel, drossel, drazel, flutch, lollard, scobberlotcher, ragabash, faineant, cad, buffoon, martinet, tosspot and 116 more...
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P is for Porch Dog
My P Words
paddington, paddy wagon, paddy whack, paddywhack, paisano, pandemonium, pantaloon, pantaloons, paper tiger, papoose, parachute pants, parcel and 109 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Name-Calling for Fun and Profit
I figured out the thing all these terms have in common, besides that they can be used as insults. They all crack me up.
drip, yahoo, dweeb, nimrod, wanker, nincompoop, weasel, skank, fussbudget, dink, twit, guttersnipe and 125 more...
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Compounds That Look Freakish
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
nightjar, bullfinch, grassquit, bananaquit, ovenbird, waxwing, stonechat, wheatear, bushtit, wrentit, starthroat, godwit and 158 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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not the sum of their parts
words formed as the combination of two or more other words, but which have a meaning unrelated to either of the constituent words
earwig, ladyfinger, pantywaist, dovetail, eavesdropper, blackmail, greenhorn, mango, carpet, penny farthing, farthingale, damage and 118 more...
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It's a Man's World
Help me get to the bottom of this
pussy, bitchslap, dildo, twat, bimbo, the man, cunt, douchebag, cocksucker, the nuts, the balls, bitch and 20 more...
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Insults
whoreson, unmuzzled, saucy, miscreant, prating, peevish, knavish, eye-offending, brazen, bawdy, vainglorious, hardscrabble and 15 more...
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Wordiepants
The pants, the pants, the pants are on fire...
A place to store all the pants fun currently scattered around the site (i.e. Wordiepants). Open to those accustomed to unearthing Wordie gems fo...wordiepants, we've got to get ..., pants issues, wonder sauna hot ..., britches, breeches, hammer capris, pants are your fr..., underpants, possibleunderpants, pants, panties and 71 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pantywaist.
chained_bear "A garment, usually for children, consisting of panties attached to a waist or bodice. Now rare."
I should hope so.
Also, "a weak or cowardly person." Feb 5, 2007