namby-pamby (adj.)

"weakly sentimental, affectedly nice, insipidly pretty," 1745, from the satiric nickname of English poet Ambrose Philips (1674-1749), "a good Whig and a middling poet" [Macaulay] mocking his sentimental pastorals addressed to infant members of the nobility. Used first in 1726 in a farce credited to Carey (Pope also used it). Related: Namby-pambical.

also from 1745

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updated on April 05, 2019

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