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Definition 2024


mollycoddle

mollycoddle

English

Noun

mollycoddle (plural mollycoddles)

  1. (now rare) A person, especially a man or a boy, who is pampered and overprotected.
    • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage
      No matter what pacifist "flubdubs and flapdoodle mollycoddles" might say, the President [Teddy Roosevelt] knew that if there were a general war then America could well be drawn into it.

Translations

Verb

mollycoddle (third-person singular simple present mollycoddles, present participle mollycoddling, simple past and past participle mollycoddled)

  1. (transitive) To be overprotective and indulgent toward; to pamper.
    • 1904, Sabine Baring-Gould, The White Flag
      Heerendorp by this means obtained an evil notoriety, and it was ordered to be burnt, and the women of Jacob's family to be transferred to a concentration camp where they would be mollycoddled at the expense of the English taxpayer.
    • 2012, The Economist, Oct 13th 2012, Policy prescriptions: A True Progressivism
      Rich countries also need more competition in traditionally mollycoddled sectors such as education.

Translations