Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
niminy-piminy en · ADJ
Meanings
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Overtly or excessively prim.
We began challenging each other to drink a whole tumblerful of wine at a single draught and at high speed. The girls hang back from the ordeal, and returned the glass after spluttering, niminy-piminy sips;
2013, Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Broken Road:That is what my eating abroad had been: fearful, niminy-piminy slivers of prosciutto and single olives.
2018, Laura Freeman, The Reading Cure: How Books Restored My Appetite:You pinheaded, pretentious, pompous, egotistical, niminy-piminy-
1919, Arthur Train, By Advice of Counsel:We should be less niminy-piminy and say what we think.
2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower:"I detest rude, unlady-like girls." "I hate affected, niminy piminy chits."
1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:Inside were many fine pictures, not in the niminy-piminy manner, but strong, full-coloured, and just.
1902, Hilaire Belloc, The Path To Rome:
Forms
niminy-piminy en · NOUN
Meanings
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(uncountable) excessive primness; affected delicacy; mincingness
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(uncountable) one who acts in an excessively prim manner
"I was," she said, "but I didn’t stay." Her nose was shiny and her hair was bedraggled. "If I had been penned in with that niminy-piminy any longer I'd have broken down the door to get out."
1976, Isaac Asimov, Murder at the ABA:
Forms