Mealy-mouthed

Alternative forms

• mealmouthed, meal-mouthed
• mealymouthed

Origin

Possibly from German Mehl im Maule behalten via Martin Luther

Full definition of mealy-mouthed

Adjective

1. prone to speaking evasively, indirectly, or duplicitously; not forthright
• 1849, Henry David Thoreau, A week on the Concord and Merrimack rivers, page 115The surliness with which the woodchopper speaks of his woods, handling them as indifferently as his axe, is better than the mealy-mouthed enthusiasm of the lover of nature.

Related terms

• mealmouth