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'''Milquetoast''' refers to an unassertive and spineless person who can be easily intimidated or dominated.

'''Milquetoast''' refers to an unassertive and spineless person who can be easily intimidated or dominated.

The term comes from a character in Harold T. Webster's 1924-1953 ''New York Herald Tribune'' comic strip ''The Timid Soul''.  The character's name was Caspar Milquetoast, and Webster described him as “the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick”.<ref>World Wide Words, ''MILQUETOAST'', by Michael Quinion,  1 Jun 2002 [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mil1.htm]</ref>  The name comes from the dish "milk toast", toast soaked in milk, which was fed to the sick.  <ref>Don Markstein's Toonopedia™, ''THE TIMID SOUL''[http://www.toonopedia.com/milqueto.htm]</ref>

The term comes from a character in Harold T. Webster's 1924-1953 ''New York Herald Tribune'' comic strip ''The Timid Soul''.  The character's name was Caspar Milquetoast, and Webster described him as “the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick”.<ref>World Wide Words, ''MILQUETOAST'', by Michael Quinion,  1 Jun 2002 [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mil1.htm]</ref>  The name is a Frenchified reference to the dish "milk toast", toast soaked in milk, which was fed to the sick.  <ref>Don Markstein's Toonopedia™, ''THE TIMID SOUL''[http://www.toonopedia.com/milqueto.htm]</ref> The term ''milksop'' (untoasted bread soaked in milk) has been used since the fourteenth century to refer to a weak or ineffectual person.<ref>Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. ''"milksoppy"'' 15 Mar. 2009. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/milksoppy]</ref>.