Deeper Dive: woman
woman
noun pl. Women (#). [OE. woman, womman, wumman, wimman, wifmon, AS. wīfmann, wīmmann; wīf woman, wife + mann a man. See Wife, and Man.]
1. An adult female person; a grown-up female person, as distinguished from a man or a child; sometimes, any female person.
Women are soft, mild pitiful, and flexible. Shak.
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman. Gen. ii. 22.
I have observed among all nations that the women ornament themselves more than the men; that, wherever found, they are the same kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings, inclined to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest. J. Ledyard.
2. The female part of the human race; womankind.
Man is destined to be a prey to woman. Thackeray.
3. A female attendant or servant.
“By her woman I sent your message.” Shak.
Woman hater
one who hates women; one who has an aversion to the female sex; a misogynist. Swift.
Wom′an transitive verb 1. To act the part of a woman in; – with indefinite it. Daniel.
2. To make effeminate or womanish. [R.] Shak.
3. To furnish with, or unite to, a woman. [R.]
“To have him see me woman’d.” Shak.
-- Webster's unabridged 1913
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