mealy : Idioms & Phrases

• noun scalelike plant-eating insect coated with a powdery waxy secretion; destructive especially of fruit trees
  mealybug.
  

WordNet

• (Zoöl.), a scale insect (Coccus adonidum, and related species), covered with a white powderlike substance. It is a common pest in hothouses.

Webster 1913

• noun Texas sage having intensely blue flowers
  Salvia farinacea; blue sage.
  

WordNet

• adjective satellite hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy
  mealymouthed.
  
  • a mealymouthed politician

WordNet

Meal"y-mouthed` adjective

Definitions

1. Using soft words; plausible; affectedly or timidly delicate of speech; unwilling to tell the truth in plain language. "Mealy-mouthed philanthropies." Tennyson.

   She was a fool to be mealy-mouthed where nature speaks so plain. L'Estrange.

   -- Meal"y-mouth`ness n.

Webster 1913