Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) weak, effeminate, homosexual.

1941		Tribune (Scranton, PA) 17 Apr. 4/1: He szneers at art galleries and the limp-wristed young men, whom [sic] [...] preside over them.
1950		Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan) 29 June 15/2: We’re sorry that some of the limp-wristed characters on CBC didn’t spend an apprentriceship in the same occupation [i.e. a newsboy].
1951		L.A. Mirror 28 Mar. 8/1: A sect of limp-wristed lads exists and flourishes [i.e. in LA] [...] police officers have carefully controlled the primping and prancing of the lavender set.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 479: You got me where you want me, you limp-wristed bastard.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 219: Weak-wristed An effeminate male.
1971		Canberra Times (ACT) 4 Sept. 2/3: The Stonewall incident [...] destroyed the image of the homosexual as the proverbial, passive pansy, the limp-wristed fairy, the fop clad in purple silk.
1977		A. Brooke Last Toke 171: You remember a limp-wristed fag propositioning you boys when you parked your car around the corner from Simon’s place?
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 65: The jail governors of today are a little limp-wristed when it comes to matters of violence.
2000		T. Fontana ‘Obituaries’ Oz ser. 4 ep. 2 [TV script] He’s a weak, limp-wristed liberal, and you’ve got to toss him out with the other garbage.
2000		J. Hawes Dead Long Enough 40: They were Wristy Specky Swots. [Ibid.] 126: No we fucking haven’t, you wristy intellectual tosser.
2002		in ‘Ben Trovato’ On the Run (2007) 16: Judges these days are a bunch of limp-wristed nancy boys .
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 156: He was the hairy-arsed champion of the underdog. We were a cabal of limp-wristed pen-pushers.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 94: [L]imp-wristed loser Adlai Stevenson.