pussyfootern.
/ˈpʊsɪˌfʊtə/, U.S. /ˈpʊsiˌfudər/ 1. (a) A person who moves quietly or stealthily; (also) someone who behaves in a sly, furtive, or underhand way. (b) A person who acts evasively, non-committally, or in an excessively cautious or hesitant manner.
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1911 Bismarck (N. Dakota) Daily Tribune 19 Apr. 3/2 They ask that..this Senate adjourn and say to this board of managers and their counsel and their corps of detectives and their pussy-footers, go out over the state again and gather up a few cases and come back here.
1913 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 8 Mar. (advt.) Owners, this is just another case where the ‘pussyfooter’ says ‘just as good’, yet has nothing just as good to offer you.
1922 C. Porter Compl. Lyrics (1983) 93/2 If your girl's a quiet pussy-footer, You should quickly put her out of sight.
1927 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 24 Dec. 9/1 A good politician is a natural-born pussy-footer.
1946 S. H. Holbrook Lost Men Amer. Hist. 160 The appeasers and pussyfooters of 1850 also provided that any territories that might come into the Union later could do so with or without slavery.
1965 News (Frederick, Maryland) 4 Feb. 4/5 It is quite natural, though tragically mistaken, for the Soviets to assume that President Johnson is a pussy-footer or an appeaser.
2005 Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch (Nexis) 25 Sept. b1 When police officials called his latest client a ‘person of interest’, Collins said he considered that phrase a pussyfooter's way of saying ‘suspect’.
2. An advocate or supporter of the prohibition of alcohol; a teetotaller. Now rare.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > caution > [noun] > cautious person
cautionista1656
shy-cock1768
pussyfoot1907
safety-firster1915
pussyfooter1923
piker1929
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > abstention from drinking > [noun] > prohibition > prohibitionist
prohibitionist1830
Maine law man1855
dry1888
pussyfoot1919
pussyfooter1923
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > evasive deception, shiftiness > [noun] > one who acts evasively
corner-creeper1563
palterer1589
shuffler1621
prevaricator1650
hedger1728
twister1834
pussyfoot1907
pussyfooter1923
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > stealthy movement > [noun] > one who moves stealthily
mitchera1500
prowler1519
creeper1589
pussyfoot1907
slinker1919
pussyfooter1923
1923 Ann. Amer. Acad. 109 36/1 First, we declared ourselves to be a nation of prohibitionists; we tooted our moral horn somewhat loudly; then we sent our leading pussyfooters to persuade the wicked nations to adopt our high standard of morals,—this with more horn tooting.
1928 Daily Express 28 Dec. 8/3 The pussyfooters..have given a weary and blasé world a new game to play.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1911