Mealy-mouthed
(Meal"y-mouthed`) a. Using soft words; plausible; affectedly or timidly delicate of speech; unwilling
to tell the truth in plain language. "Mealy-mouthed philanthropies." Tennyson.
She was a fool to be mealy-mouthed where nature speaks so plain.
L'Estrange. — Meal"y-mouth`ness n.
Mean
(Mean) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Meant (ment); p. pr. & vb. n. Meaning.] [OE. menen, AS. m&aemacrnan
to recite, tell, intend, wish; akin to OS. menian to have in mind, mean, D. meenen, G. meinen, OHG.
meinan, Icel. meina, Sw. mena, Dan. mene, and to E. mind. &radic104. See Mind, and cf. Moan.]
1. To have in the mind, as a purpose, intention, etc.; to intend; to purpose; to design; as, what do you
mean to do ?
What mean ye by this service ?
Ex. xii. 26.
Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.
Gen. 1. 20.
I am not a Spaniard
To say that it is yours and not to mean it.
Longfellow. 2. To signify; to indicate; to import; to denote.
What mean these seven ewe lambs ?
Gen. xxi. 29.
Go ye, and learn what that meaneth.
Matt. ix. 13. Mean
(Mean), v. i. To have a purpose or intention. [Rare, except in the phrase to mean well, or ill.]
Shak.
Mean
(Mean) a. [Compar. Meaner (men"er); superl. Meanest.] [OE. mene, AS. m&aemacrne wicked; akin
to man, a., wicked, n., wickedness, OS. men wickedness, OHG. mein, G. meineid perjury, Icel. mein
harm, hurt, and perh. to AS. gem&aemacrne common, general, D. gemeen, G. gemein, Goth. gamáins,
and L. communis. The AS. gem&aemacrne prob. influenced the meaning.]
1. Destitute of distinction or eminence; common; low; vulgar; humble. "Of mean parentage." Sir P. Sidney.
The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself.
Is. ii. 9.
