Pantywaist

Full definition of pantywaist

Adjective

1. (informal, dated, especially of a male person) Weak, timid, effeminate, ineffectual.His rough, burly father was mortified by the lad's pantywaist behavior.

Noun

1. (informal, dated) A children's undergarment composed, in part, of panties attached to a waistband.
• 1929 April 29, "The Altman Sale of Children's Underwear" (display advertisement), The New York Times, p. 16:Lace trimmed panty waists—50 cents.
2. (pejorative, dated) An ineffectual, weak, or timid person, especially a boy or young man; a sissy.
• 1943 Jan. 24, Hal Borland, "'Baedekers' for Our Fighters: So you're going abroad, says Uncle Sam," The New York Times, p. SM14:Don't be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. The English language didn't spread across the oceans and over the mountains and jungles and swamps because these people were pantywaists.