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• milk toast
  milk toast

  noun

  toast, usually buttered, served in hot milk with sugar or with salt and pepper.
• milk-toast
  milk-toast

  adjective

  easily dominated; extremely mild; ineffectual; namby-pamby; wishy-washy.

milk toast

¹ American  

noun

1. toast, usually buttered, served in hot milk with sugar or with salt and pepper.

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milk-toast ² American  

[milk-tohst] / ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst /

adjective

1. easily dominated; extremely mild; ineffectual; namby-pamby; wishy-washy.

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noun

1. milquetoast.

Etymology

Origin of milk toast¹

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Origin of milk-toast²

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

milk toast milk-toast

We do not need to staff the CIA with Mister or Ms milk toast.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2018

He savored a final meal of eggs and grits, apple juice and milk, toast and a sweet doughnut stick.

From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2012

Leach's attorneys also claim that Hance twice told the attorney investigating the mistreatment complaint to change her report because it was "too mild" and "too milk toast," court documents show.

From Newsweek ● Apr. 16, 2010

Radio listeners round the world heard the benevolent voice of George V dedicate India House with words as mild as milk toast.

From Time Magazine Archive

Cereal and milk, toast, bacon, fried eggs—the smells of breakfast seemed to hang over the raft.

From "The River" by Gary Paulsen

As Taft had said, it was no milk-toast affair.

From Time Magazine Archive

A little too suggestive of milk-toast, I’m afraid, Marion.

From Caps and Capers A Story of Boarding-School Life by C. M. (Charles Mark) Relyea

Opening it, he admitted a waiter with a tray containing some steaming milk-toast.

From The Cottage of Delight A Novel by Will N. (William Nathaniel) Harben

What's the world coming to, I ask you, when a feeble old lady in the milk-toast era can dictate to a man as to his personal vices.

From Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald

They feed me nothin' but slops—soup an' gruel an' custard an' milk-toast.

From Oh, You Tex! by William MacLeod Raine