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softy

or soft·ie

[sawf-tee, sof-]
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noun, plural soft·ies. Informal.
  1. a person easily stirred to sentiment or tender emotion.
  2. a person who lacks stamina or endurance.
  3. a person who lacks strength of character; a silly or foolish person.
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Origin of softy

First recorded in 1860–65; soft + -y2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for softy

Historical Examples

  • The heap of money made a deep impression in the softy downy bed.

    The Fat and the Thin

    Emile Zola

  • He was rich and kind, or rather as she told me "he was a softy."

    Women's Wild Oats

    C. Gasquoine Hartley

  • The man who saw things neither was a softy, and no proper citizen.

    The Patrician

    John Galsworthy

  • “Not so sure of that, if Softy had charge of them,” said Tom.

    Paddy Finn

    W. H. G. Kingston

  • "It's not us as 'ud make a softy of him," she said indignantly.

    Sons and Lovers

    David Herbert Lawrence

Word Origin and History for softy

n.

also softie, 1863, "silly person," from soft (adj.) + -y (3). Meaning "soft-hearted person" is from 1886; that of "weak, unmanly or effeminate man" is from 1895. The Mister Softee soft ice-cream operation began in Philadelphia, U.S., in 1956.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper