a. [f. as prec. + -ED2.] Having tender feet; hence, moving with or as with tender feet; also fig. cautious, timid, inexperienced. Hence Tenderfootedness.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1694/4. Stolen…, an Iron Grey Gelding,… a little tender-footed on the Stones. Ibid. (1690), No. 2535/4. A white Stone-horse … tender-footed before.
1854. J. W. Grimes, in N. Amer. Rev., CXXIII. 189. My friends were tender-footed, and did not wish me to denounce the Nebraska infamy.
a. 1885. Emery A. Storrs, in I. E. Adams, Life (1886), 612. The impression is that there is a general lack of firmness—a general tenderfootedness and goody-goodiness without anything specific about it one way or the other.
1891. Cent. Dict., Tenderfootedness.
1908. F. R. Burton, Strongheart, iii. 43. You’ve had a good deal to say about my tenderfootedness in including a suit of pajamas in my camp outfit.
