pussyfoot

English

WOTD – 2 October 2010

Etymology

From pussy (“feline”) +‎ foot; because of the light and careful tread of cats.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʊs.iˌfʊt/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

pussyfoot (third-person singular simple present pussyfoots, present participle pussyfooting, simple past and past participle pussyfooted)

1. (intransitive) To move silently, stealthily, or furtively.
2. (intransitive) To act timidly or cautiously.
3. (intransitive) To use euphemistic language or circumlocution.
   • 1946, Tennessee Williams, The Unsatisfactory Supper:

     "Then you talk up! And plain! What's there to be so pussyfooting about?"

Translations

to move silently

• Bulgarian: промъквам се тихо (promǎkvam se tiho)
• Dutch: sluipen (nl), trippelen (nl)
• Faroese: smeita (reflexive)
• Finnish: hiipiä (fi), hipsutella (fi), hipsiä
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: trippeln (de), auf Zehenspitzen gehen, schleichen (de), herumschleichen (de), leisetreten
• Swedish: tassa (sv), smyga (sv), trippa (sv)

to act timidly

• Bulgarian: действам предпазливо (dejstvam predpazlivo)
• Dutch: treuzelen (nl)
• Finnish: arastella (fi), hissutella
• German: um den heißen Brei schleichen, leisetreten
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: (figuratively) gå på gummisåler
• Swedish: fega (sv), fjompa

to use euphemistic language

• Dutch: schoonspreken
• Finnish: sievistellä (fi), hyssytellä (fi)
• German: um den heißen Brei reden
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: (figuratively) gå på gummisåler, skjønnmale
• Swedish: skönmåla (sv), omskriva, omformulera (sv)

See also

• pussytoe
• walk on eggshells