pussyfoot


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puss·y·foot

 (po͝os′ē-fo͝ot′)
intr.v. puss·y·foot·ed, puss·y·foot·ing, puss·y·foots
1. To move stealthily or cautiously.
2. Informal To act or proceed cautiously or timidly to avoid committing oneself.
puss′y·foot′er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pussyfoot

(ˈpʊsɪˌfʊt)
vb (intr)
1. to move about stealthily or warily like a cat
2. to avoid committing oneself
n, pl -foots
a person who pussyfoots
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

puss•y•foot

(ˈpʊs iˌfʊt)

v.i.
1. to go or move in a stealthy or cautious manner.
2. to act timidly or irresolutely, as if afraid to commit oneself.
[1890–95, Amer.]
puss′y•foot`er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

pussyfoot


Past participle: pussyfooted
Gerund: pussyfooting

Imperative
pussyfoot
pussyfoot
Present
I pussyfoot
you pussyfoot
he/she/it pussyfoots
we pussyfoot
you pussyfoot
they pussyfoot
Preterite
I pussyfooted
you pussyfooted
he/she/it pussyfooted
we pussyfooted
you pussyfooted
they pussyfooted
Present Continuous
I am pussyfooting
you are pussyfooting
he/she/it is pussyfooting
we are pussyfooting
you are pussyfooting
they are pussyfooting
Present Perfect
I have pussyfooted
you have pussyfooted
he/she/it has pussyfooted
we have pussyfooted
you have pussyfooted
they have pussyfooted
Past Continuous
I was pussyfooting
you were pussyfooting
he/she/it was pussyfooting
we were pussyfooting
you were pussyfooting
they were pussyfooting
Past Perfect
I had pussyfooted
you had pussyfooted
he/she/it had pussyfooted
we had pussyfooted
you had pussyfooted
they had pussyfooted
Future
I will pussyfoot
you will pussyfoot
he/she/it will pussyfoot
we will pussyfoot
you will pussyfoot
they will pussyfoot
Future Perfect
I will have pussyfooted
you will have pussyfooted
he/she/it will have pussyfooted
we will have pussyfooted
you will have pussyfooted
they will have pussyfooted
Future Continuous
I will be pussyfooting
you will be pussyfooting
he/she/it will be pussyfooting
we will be pussyfooting
you will be pussyfooting
they will be pussyfooting
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been pussyfooting
you have been pussyfooting
he/she/it has been pussyfooting
we have been pussyfooting
you have been pussyfooting
they have been pussyfooting
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been pussyfooting
you will have been pussyfooting
he/she/it will have been pussyfooting
we will have been pussyfooting
you will have been pussyfooting
they will have been pussyfooting
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been pussyfooting
you had been pussyfooting
he/she/it had been pussyfooting
we had been pussyfooting
you had been pussyfooting
they had been pussyfooting
Conditional
I would pussyfoot
you would pussyfoot
he/she/it would pussyfoot
we would pussyfoot
you would pussyfoot
they would pussyfoot
Past Conditional
I would have pussyfooted
you would have pussyfooted
he/she/it would have pussyfooted
we would have pussyfooted
you would have pussyfooted
they would have pussyfooted
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.pussyfoot - to go stealthily or furtively; "..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house"
mouse, sneak, creep
walk - use one's feet to advance; advance by steps; "Walk, don't run!"; "We walked instead of driving"; "She walks with a slight limp"; "The patient cannot walk yet"; "Walk over to the cabinet"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

pussyfoot

verb hedge, sit on the fence, prevaricate, beat about the bush, flannel (Brit. informal), equivocate, be noncommittal, hum and haw, tergiversate Stop pussyfooting around and say what you really mean!
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

pussyfoot

verb
1. To move silently and furtively:
creep, glide, lurk, mouse, prowl, skulk, slide, slink, slip, snake, sneak, steal.
Slang: gumshoe.
2. Informal. To use evasive or deliberately vague language:
equivocate, euphemize, hedge, shuffle, tergiversate, weasel.
Informal: waffle.
Idioms: beat about the bush, mince words.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
يَتَصَرَّف بِتَحَفُّظ او خَوْف
tichošlápek
gå på kattepoter
nesztelenül lépdelóvatosan jár el
læîupokast, laumast
tajnostkár
ürkek davranmak

pussyfoot

[ˈpʊsɪfʊt] VI (esp US) (also pussyfoot around) → andar sigilosamente (fig) → no decidirse
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

pussyfoot

[ˈpʊsɪˌfʊt] vi (fam, pej) → tentennare
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

puss

(pus) noun
a cat.
pussy (pusi) – plural pussies – noun
1. a cat, especially a kitten.
2. (slang, vulgar) a woman thought of as a sex object; a fuck.
3. (slang, vulgar) a woman's vagina.
ˈpussyfoot verb
to behave in a wary or timid way.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
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References in periodicals archive ?
followed Vic Chamberlain Lochgelly, Fife IT IS outrageous that people are having to suffer hardship and starvation while these rich Tory MPs pussyfoot around, trying to decide how cheaply they can make the Universal Credit system work.
Texts
Judges are prone to treat them with kid gloves, while the Government continues to pussyfoot over serious issues.
We must act on knife crime
It's got nothing to do with the welfare of wildlife, it's more to do with people not wanting to be inconvenienced with more of this and that, which is fair enough, but let's not pussyfoot about with false wildlife concern."
TOP COMMENT
The new boss admits he has no time to "pussyfoot around" after taking over with the club he used to play for now fearing for their Premier League future with just eight games left.
Hughes: I'm not here to be nice.. I'll upset people
This documentary may have given the sad, sick inadequates the heartiest of meals, but why should society pussyfoot around them?
Trying to track down the trolls
Why on earth do the authorities pussyfoot with people who repeatedly flout the law, allowing them to act with near-impunity?
Tough action needed; Mailbag
"As long as you stay off those you're fine, but you can't pussyfoot round, so it's going to be a challenge..
Button to change his style; FORMULA ONE
Let's not pussyfoot around, this is murder of the innocents.
Letter: We must stop this murder of the innocents
But some Humanists feel that they must pussyfoot around its legality and not ask too much all at once and approach the broader goal in doable small steps.
Truly beneficent euthanasia
Instead of inclination, why not refer to it as a temptation, as to sin--around which one tends to pussyfoot? That's not my judgment: St.
From M. J. Ferrari, M.D., re clergy and homosexuality. (Letters to the Editor)
He needed someone with distance, someone who appreciated the intricate melange of the tragic and the comic in the text but wouldn't pussyfoot around the necessary modifications.
Water and fire: Robert Favreau's Les Muses Orphelines
Pohl's other novels include The Age of the Pussyfoot (1969), Man Plus (1976), and Chernobyl (1987).
Pohl, Frederik

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