So sweetly mawkish', and so smoothly dull. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
2. Easily disgusted; squeamish; sentimentally fastidious.
--J. H. Newman.
[1913 Webster]
3. Weakly sentimental; maudlin. [PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
mawkish — index unsavory Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
mawkish — 1660s, sickly, nauseated, from M.E. mawke maggot (see MAGGOT (Cf. maggot)). Sense of sickly sentimental is first recorded 1702. Related: Mawkishly; mawkishness … Etymology dictionary
mawkish — maudlin, *sentimental, romantic, soppy, mushy, slushy Analogous words: flat, vapid, jejune, *insipid, banal, inane … New Dictionary of Synonyms
mawkish — [adj] sentimental, emotional bathetic, cloying, feeble, gooey*, gushing, gushy*, lovey dovey*, maudlin, mushy*, nauseating, romantic, sappy*, schmaltzy*, sickening, sloppy, tear jerking*, teary; concepts 401,542 Ant. calm, serious, unemotional … New thesaurus
mawkish — ► ADJECTIVE 1) sentimental in a feeble or sickly way. 2) archaic or dialect having a faint sickly flavour. ORIGIN from obsolete mawk maggot … English terms dictionary
mawkish — [mô′kish] adj. [lit., maggoty < ME mawke, maggot < ON mathkr < IE base * math , gnawing vermin > MOTH] 1. having a sweet, weak, sickening taste; insipid or nauseating 2. sentimental in a weak, insipid way, so as to be sickening… … English World dictionary
mawkish — [17] The underlying meaning of mawkish is ‘maggotish’. It was derived from a now obsolete word mawk, which meant literally ‘maggot’ but was used figuratively (like maggot itself) for a ‘whim’ or ‘fastidious fancy’. Hence mawkish originally meant… … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins
mawkish — [[t]mɔ͟ːkɪʃ[/t]] ADJ GRADED (disapproval) You can describe something as mawkish when you think it is sentimental and silly. A sordid, sentimental plot unwinds, with an inevitable mawkish ending. Syn: nauseating, soppy … English dictionary
mawkish — [17] The underlying meaning of mawkish is ‘maggotish’. It was derived from a now obsolete word mawk, which meant literally ‘maggot’ but was used figuratively (like maggot itself) for a ‘whim’ or ‘fastidious fancy’. Hence mawkish originally meant… … Word origins
mawkish — adj. Mawkish is used with these nouns: ↑sentiment … Collocations dictionary
