20 October 2013

pantywaist

[pan-tee-weyst]

noun

1. Informal. a weak, effeminate man; sissy. e.g. ‘penniless pantywaist’ as quoted in Baz Luhrman’s Great Gatsby.
2. formerly, a child’s undergarment consisting of short pants and a shirt that buttoned together at the waist.
adjective
3. weak; fainthearted.
4. Informal. childish.
Origin:
1925–30; panty + waist

Synonyms
1. weakling, milksop, namby-pamby.

Today’s aphorism

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

– F. Scott Fitzgerald

On this day

20 October 1977 – Plane crash in Mississippi kills 3 members of rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with their manager, the pilot and co-pilot.

20 October 2011 – death of Muammar Gaddafi, former leader of Libya. He had been shot to death by rebel fighters following the overthrow of his government.