mama's boy

plural mama's boys · alternative Mama's boy · alternative mamma's boy · alternative Mamma's boy · alternative mammie's boy · alternative Mammie's boy · alternative mammy's boy · alternative Mammy's boy · alternative Canada US momma's boy · alternative Canada US Momma's boy · alternative Canada US mommie's boy · alternative Canada US Mommie's boy · alternative Canada US mommy's boy · alternative Canada US Mommy's boy · alternative UK mumma's boy · alternative UK Mumma's boy

1. CanadaUSderogatoryidiomaticinformalA male who has a very close bond with his mother, and may consequently be perceived as soft or effeminate.

   He's such a mama's boy that he can't even ask a girl out for a date without his mother's approval.

   1 more example

   And now we have plenty of mama’s boys who just want to have fun, who just want to —I don't know— use some women, have fun, have great sex, but they are not able to offer this responsibility in case something happens (!) so that’s why women, they are insecure because sex is something very precious that we have to offer; we women, because it’s our bodies, and our bodies, uhm, we become pregnant and men cannot become pregnant, so we bear all of these risks. And, for us, it’s a huge opening if we say yes to a man, if we give ourselves to a man, it’s not only that we open —uh, I’m sorry for the expression— our legs, but, it’s just that we open our heart and soul and we trust that this man is responsible; and if something happens (!) he will take action, he will be there (!) for us; he will behave... [nodding] like a man.

   2020, Alexandra, 8:48–9:45 from the start, in Strong women and weak men, spoken by speaker, Family Code, via YouTube

   Synonyms: nancyboy, pansy

plural Mama's boys

1. Alternative letter-case form of mama's boy.

   He was authoritarian but he was also a Mama’s boy, and his mouth, as I said, was a little soft and a lot contemptuous.

   1994, Jack Erdmann with Larry Kearney, chapter 2, in Whiskey’s Children: An Inspiring True Story of Struggle and Redemption, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Books, published October 1997, →ISBN, page 14

   3 more examples

   Why would she fall in love with a man who is such a Mama’s boy when, according to the drama, she has had so many other men running after her?

   2004, Arthur Gewirtz, “Theatre Guild Year”, in Sidney Howard and Clare Eames: American Theater’s Perfect Couple of the 1920s, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 192

   “I’m coldy and dead tired. And childish. I miss my parents.” / “So?” she says softly, to my relief because we’ve had arguments about me being such a Mama’s boy. “So?”

   2005, Frederic Morton, “1960: Christmas with the Rothschilds”, in Runaway Waltz: A Memoir from Vienna to New York, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 120

   “I was such a Mama’s boy as a kid,” he admitted. “I never stayed overnight at any friend’s house until I was in high school. When I was a little kid, I really couldn’t bear to be away from Mom. I only liked her cooking, and I avoided restaurants, even hamburger or taco stands, until I started dating.”

   2009, Brad Steiger, Sherry Hansen Steiger, Santa Miracles: 50 True Stories That Celebrate the Most Magical Time of the Year, Avon, Mass.: Adams Media, →ISBN, page 217