Meek
Pronunciation
- General American IPA/ /mik/Rhymes: -iËk
Origin
From Middle English meek, meke, meoc, from Old Norse mjúkr 'soft' (compare Swedish mjuk 'soft', and Danish myg 'supple'), from Proto-Germanic *mÅ«kaz (compare Dutch muik 'soft, overripe', dialectal German mauch 'dry and decayed, rotten', Mauche 'malanders'), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meug, *meuk- 'slick, slippery; to slip' (compare Old English smÅ«gan 'to slide, slip', Welsh mwyth 'soft, weak', Latin emungere 'to blow one's nose', Tocharian A muk 'to let go, give up', Lithuanian mùkti 'to slip away from', Old Church Slavonic mÅÄati 'to chase', Ancient Greek myssesthai 'to blow the nose', Sanskrit muñcati 'he releases, lets loose').
Full definition of meek
Adjective
meek
- Humble, modest, meager, or self-effacing.
- 1848: , Mrs. Wickam was a meek woman...who was always ready to pity herself, or to be pitied, or to pity anybody else...
- "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5)
- Submissive, dispirited.
- 1920: Sinclair Lewis, Main Street http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=432765822&tag=Lewis,+Sinclair:+Main+Street,+1920&query=+meek&id=LewMainWhat if they were wolves instead of lambs? They'd eat her all the sooner if she was meek to them. Fight or be eaten.