Dictionary entry

Mealy-mouthed

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Meal″y–mouthed′ (?), a. Using soft words; plausible; affectedly or timidly delicate of speech; unwilling to tell the truth in plain language. “Mealy-mouthed philanthropies.” Tennyson.

She was a fool to be mealy-mouthed where nature speaks so plain. L'Estrange.

— Meal″y–mouth′ness (#), n.