Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Mealy-mouthed \Meal"y-mouthed`\, a.
   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.