namby-pambies

Noun

namby-pamby (plural namby-pambies)

1. One who is insipid, sentimental, or weak.
   • Namby Pamby’s doubly Mild,
     Once a Man, and twice a Child;
     To his Hanging-Sleeves restor’d
     Now he foots it like a Lord;
     Now he Pumps his little Wits;
     Sh—ing Writes and Writing Sh—s,^([sic])1725, Capt. Gordon [Henry Carey], Namby-Pamby: Or a Pangyric on the New Versification Addressed to A⸺ P⸺ Esq., →OCLC
2. Talk or writing which is weakly sentimental or affectedly pretty.
   • Another of Addison’s favourite companions was Ambrose Phillipps, a good Whig and a middling poet, who had the honour of bringing into fashion a species of composition which has been called, after his name, Namby-Pamby.1892 [1843], Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Life and writings of Addison”, in Lord Macaulay's Essays, page 790

See all 5 meanings of namby-pamby