touch-me-not-ish

English

Etymology

From touch-me-not +‎ -ish.

Adjective

touch-me-not-ish (comparative more touch-me-not-ish, superlative most touch-me-not-ish)

1. aloof; standoffish

   Synonyms: remote, reserved; see also Thesaurus:aloof

   • 1895, Eliza Margaret Jane Gollan Von Booth (as "Rita"), A Gender in Satin, New York/London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, page 144:

     I believe you mean to be nasty, Paula. You have grown more freezy and ‘touch-me-not-ish’ than ever. I don't think marriage has improved you.

   • 1994, Patricia Veryan, A Shadow's Bliss (The Tales of the Jewelled Men; 4), New York: St. Martin's Press:

     Misinterpreting her silence Howland peered at her, and said bracingly, "I know you don't believe it, but there's plenty of fine gentlemen who judge you quite beautiful, and would be dashed eager to take you to wife if you'd not be so everlastingly touch-me-not-ish."

Derived terms

• touch-me-not-ishness