a person who professes or exhibits excessive modesty, prudishness, or the like.
too much of a nice nelly to have any fun.
characterized by prudishness or excessive modesty.
The entrance of his nice-nelly friend stopped the flow of risqué stories.
being a euphemism; euphemistic.
nice-nelly expressions.
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
