milk-and-water

noun

Something insipid or mawkish.

First used 18th c.
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Meanings

nounmilk-and-water (uncountable)
  1. uncountableSomething insipid or mawkish.First known use 18th c.
  2. obsoleteuncountableA light bluish color.First known use 16th c.
adjectivemilk-and-water (comparative more milk-and-water, superlative most milk-and-water)

comparative more milk-and-water · superlative most milk-and-water

  1. Insipid, wishy-washy, weak.First known use 18th c.

    […] she was still, as heretofore, a namby-pamby milk-and-water affected creature […]

    1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
    1 more example

    He gave other equally milk-and-water examples and everyone grew sleepy, waiting for the last lap: ‘Our policy has been exactly the same each time.’

    1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 166
Cite this entry
APA

milk-and-water. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milk-and-water

MLA

“milk-and-water.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milk-and-water. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “milk-and-water,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milk-and-water.

Source: milk-and-water on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.