mollycoddle

molly +‎ coddle

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒl.ɪˌkɒd.əl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑl.iˌkɑd.əl/

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• Rhymes: -ɒdəl

mollycoddle (plural mollycoddles)

1. (now rare) A person, especially a man or a boy, who is pampered and overprotected.
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 32, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     You have been bred up as a molly-coddle, Pen, and spoilt by the women.

   • 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage:

     No matter what pacifist "flubdubs and flapdoodle mollycoddles" might say, the President [Teddy Roosevelt] knew that if there were a general war then America could well be drawn into it.

mollycoddle (third-person singular simple present mollycoddles, present participle mollycoddling, simple past and past participle mollycoddled)

1. (transitive) To be overprotective and indulgent toward; to pamper.
   • 1904, Sabine Baring-Gould, The White Flag:

     Heerendorp by this means obtained an evil notoriety, and it was ordered to be burnt, and the women of Jacob's family to be transferred to a concentration camp where they would be mollycoddled at the expense of the English taxpayer.

   • Oct 13th 2012, “Policy prescriptions: A True Progressivism”, in The Economist‎:

     Rich countries also need more competition in traditionally mollycoddled sectors such as education.