man (măn), noun; pl. Men (mĕn). [AS. mann, man, monn, mon; akin to OS., D., & OHG. man, G. mann, Icel. maðr, for mannr, Dan. Mand, Sw. man, Goth. manna, Skr. manu, manus, and perh. to Skr. man to think, and E. mind. √104. Cf. Minx a pert girl.]

1. A human being; – opposed to beast.

These men went about wide, and man found they none,
But fair country, and wild beast many [a] one. R. of Glouc.

The king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to him as it doth to me. Shak.

2. Especially: An adult male person; a grown-up male person, as distinguished from a woman or a child.

When I became a man, I put away childish things. I Cor. xiii. 11.

Ceneus, a woman once, and once a man. Dryden.

3. The human race; mankind

. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion. Gen. i. 26.

The proper study of mankind is man. Pope.

4. The male portion of the human race.

Woman has, in general, much stronger propensity than man to the discharge of parental duties. Cowper.

5. One possessing in a high degree the distinctive qualities of manhood;

one having manly excellence of any kind. Shak.

This was the noblest Roman of them all . . . the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world “This was a man!” Shak.

6. An adult male servant; also, a vassal; a subject.

Like master, like man. Old Proverb.

The vassal, or tenant, kneeling, ungirt, uncovered, and holding up his hands between those of his lord, professed that he did become his man from that day forth, of life, limb, and earthly honor. Blackstone.

8. A married man; a husband; – correlative to wife.

I pronounce that they are man and wife. Book of Com. Prayer.

every wife ought to answer for her man. Addison.

9. One, or any one, indefinitely; – a modified survival of the Saxon use of man, or mon, as an indefinite pronoun.

A man can not make him laugh. Shak.

A man would expect to find some antiquities; but all they have to show of this nature is an old rostrum of a Roman ship. Addison.

10. One of the piece with which certain games, as chess or draughts, are played.

☞ Man is often used as a prefix in composition, or as a separate adjective, its sense being usually self-explaining; as, man child, man eater or maneater, man-eating, man hater or manhater, man-hating, manhunter, man-hunting, mankiller, man-killing, man midwife, man pleaser, man servant, man-shaped, manslayer, manstealer, man-stealing, manthief, man worship, etc.

Man is also used as a suffix to denote a person of the male sex having a business which pertains to the thing spoken of in the qualifying part of the compound; ashman, butterman, laundryman, lumberman, milkman, fireman, repairman, showman, waterman, woodman. Where the combination is not familiar, or where some specific meaning of the compound is to be avoided, man is used as a separate substantive in the foregoing sense; as, apple man, cloth man, coal man, hardware man, wood man (as distinguished from woodman).

Man (măn), transitive verb [imperfect or past participle Manned (mănd); present participle or verbal noun Manning.]

1. To supply with men; to furnish with a sufficient force or complement of men, as for management, service, defense, or the like; to guard; as, to man a ship, boat, or fort.

See how the surly Warwick mans the wall ! Shak.

They man their boats, and all their young men arm. Waller.

2. To furnish with strength for action; to prepare for efficiency; to fortify.

“Theodosius having manned his soul with proper reflections.” Addison.

3. To tame, as a hawk. [R.] Shak.

4. To furnish with a servant or servants. [Obs.] Shak.

5. To wait on as a manservant. [Obs.] Shak.

☞ In “Othello,” V. ii. 270, the meaning is uncertain, being, perhaps: To point, to aim, or to manage.

To man a yard (Naut.)

to send men upon a yard, as for furling or reefing a sail.

To man the yards (Naut.)

to station men on the yards as a salute or mark of respect.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913