"like dough," especially "flabby and pallid" or "yielding to pressure," c. 1600, from dough + -y (2). Related: Doughiness.
Entries linking to doughy
dough n.
"mass of flour or meal moistened and mixed for baking," Middle English dogh, from Old English dag "dough," from Proto-Germanic *daigaz "something kneaded" (source also of Old Norse deig, Swedish deg, Middle Dutch deech, Dutch deeg, Old High German teic, German Teig, Gothic daigs "dough"), from PIE root *dheigh- "to form, build." Meaning "money" is from 1851 (compare bread (n.)).
-y 2
adjective suffix, "full of or characterized by," from Old English -ig, from Proto-Germanic *-iga- (source also of Dutch, Danish, German -ig, Gothic -egs), from PIE -(i)ko-, adjectival suffix, cognate with elements in Greek -ikos, Latin -icus (see -ic). Originally added to nouns in Old English; used from 13c. with verbs, and by 15c. even with other adjectives (for example crispy). Adjectives such as hugy, vasty are artificial words that exist for the sake of poetical metrics.