femalen.adj.
/ˈfiːmeɪl/, U.S. /ˈfiˌmeɪl/ A. n.
1. A person of the sex that can bear offspring; a woman or a girl.
a. Paired or contrasted with male. A member of this sex in a group or set of persons of both sexes.
ΚΠ
c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 42 (MED) Me schel þe mannes lenden anelye, Þe nauele of þe femele.
c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 363 (MED) Forto fynde children, mawlis or femawlis, to schole.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) i. 59 Yar mycht succed na female.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) III. 139 Of king Williame the successioun did faill..bayth of famell and maill.
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 10 Whole tribes of males and females, trotted bargd it thither.
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 243 Saturne did onely eate up his male-children, not his females.
1739 G. Booth Considerations upon Inst. Marriage 29 Of the Two we take a little more Care in the Education of the Males than the Females.
1804 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. III. 391 The females..incapable of performing any military service.
1860 Times 23 Apr. 9/4 The occupiers can..be classified..into males and females.
1915 J. Orr et al. Internat. Standard Bible Encycl. I. 280/1 It was the female not the male that headed the pantheon of [Greek] gods.
1975 G. L. Peltier in W. C. Johnson Learner, Learning Process, School 58 Although males traditionally take on the mantle of leadership in our society, it is the female who more often finds success in our educational system.
2001 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 23 May 22 [Man] may pretend to be manly, but most of the time is not. When the going gets tough, females rather than males get going.
b. Simply: a woman or girl. Also occasionally: a wife or mistress.Sometimes (esp. in later use) depreciative, as a generic descriptor implying low class or a lack of traditional feminine qualities. N.E.D. (1895) notes: ‘now commonly avoided by good writers, except with contemptuous implication’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun]
wifeeOE
womaneOE
womanOE
queanOE
brideOE
viragoc1000
to wifeOE
burdc1225
ladyc1225
carlinec1375
stotc1386
marec1387
pigsneyc1390
fellowa1393
piecec1400
femalea1425
goddessa1450
fairc1450
womankindc1450
fellowessa1500
femininea1513
tega1529
sister?1532
minikinc1540
wyec1540
placket1547
pig's eye1553
hen?1555
ware1558
pussy?a1560
jade1560
feme1566
gentlewoman1567
mort1567
pinnacea1568
jug1569
rowen1575
tarleather1575
mumps1576
skirt1578
piga1586
rib?1590
puppy1592
smock1592
maness1594
sloy1596
Madonna1602
moll1604
periwinkle1604
Partlet1607
rib of man1609
womanship?1609
modicum1611
Gypsy1612
petticoata1616
runniona1616
birda1627
lucky1629
she-man1640
her1646
lost rib1647
uptails1671
cow1696
tittup1696
cummer17..
wife1702
she-woman1703
person1704
molly1706
fusby1707
goody1708
riding hood1718
birdie1720
faggot1722
piece of goods1727
woman body1771
she-male1776
biddy1785
bitch1785
covess1789
gin1790
pintail1792
buer1807
femme1814
bibi1816
Judy1819
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
wifie1823
craft1829
shickster?1834
heifer1835
mot1837
tit1837
Sitt1838
strap1842
hay-bag1851
bint1855
popsy1855
tart1864
woman's woman1868
to deliver the goods1870
chapess1871
Dona1874
girl1878
ladykind1878
mivvy1881
dudess1883
dudette1883
dudine1883
tid1888
totty1890
tootsy1895
floozy1899
dame1902
jane1906
Tom1906
frail1908
bit of stuff1909
quim1909
babe1911
broad1914
muff1914
manhole1916
number1919
rossie1922
bit1923
man's woman1928
scupper1935
split1935
rye mort1936
totsy1938
leg1939
skinny1941
Richard1950
potato1957
scow1960
wimmin1975
womyn1975
womxn1991
a1425 Of Mynystris in Chirche (Bodl. 788) in T. Arnold Sel. Eng. Wks. J. Wyclif (1871) II. 408 (MED) Two femalis shulen be grynding at a queerne.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxx. 411 Of femellys a quantité Here fynde I parte.
1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) vi. xxxi. 137 The gayest Females mate With Loutes as soone as Lordes.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. iii. 28 Cupid is a knauish ladde, Thus to make poore females madde. View more context for this quotation
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 478 Females have extreames, and two we see, Eyther too wicked, or too good they be.
1713 R. Steele in Guardian 2 May 1/1 I would strictly recommend to any young Females not to dally with Men [etc.].
1723 S. Centlivre Artifice i. i. 13 I have found means to open a Communication between myself and his Female.
1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod iv. i. 263 Dancing..an essential part of a young female's education.
1849 E. E. Napier Excursions Southern Afr. I. 112 The ‘Totty’ of the present day: and his female, (for the creature can scarcely be dignified by the name of woman).
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 10 Aug. 7/2 They are no ladies. The only word good enough for them is the word of opprobrium—females.
1936 P. G. Wodehouse Laughing Gas xxii. 242 I remember..wondering how the dickens a female of her slight build..could possibly get that wristy follow-through into her shots.
1987 Daily Mirror 10 Nov. 9/1 You ought to pity the poor devil for the way these females are only too willing to take his cash and laugh behind his back.
2006 Observer 3 Sept. i. 17/1 Meet the Yuffers: young urban females who typically spend more than they earn, enjoy weekends at..health spas, and..have at least two maxed-out credit cards.
2. An individual of this sex (contrasted with male); a female animal (including the human being considered as an animal species). Also: female individuals or the female sex considered generally or collectively. his female n. his mate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > female > [noun]
hooOE
femalea1393
shea1400
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Coraciiformes (kingfisher, etc.) > [noun] > family Alcedinidae > genus Alcedo > alcedo atthis (kingfisher) > mate of
his female1585
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 4215 (MED) The Madle is mad for the femele; Bot where as on desireth fele, That nedeth noght be weie of kinde.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 122 To knowe a femelle from a male.
a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) l. 4042 Ȝe se..How a rauen sittes and cries allane..It es þe femal of þe thre.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde ii. xiv. sig. g. 4 Byrdes that ben femalles may not abyde there.
?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. ii. sig. Uv Assone as the man lokedde vpon the femalle of his kynde, he beganne to loue her aboue all thynges.
1585 J. B. tr. P. Viret School of Beastes: Good Housholder sig. Div This bird [sc. Halcion] loveth singularly his femal.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 272 The Female generateth in her selfe, the Male not in himselfe but in the Female.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 108 The Wars that spotted Linx's make With their fierce Rivals, for the Females sake. View more context for this quotation
1726 J. Swift Gulliver II. iv. iv. 53 The younger and the Females were much more soft and tender, and the Skins of the latter generally as white as Milk.
1769 J. Wallis Nat. Hist. Northumberland I. xii. 410 A female, with a calf at her foot, is not to be approached without danger.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 19 The seminal liquor, not only of males, but of females also, abounds in these moving little animals.
1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. iv. 59 The stag was..acting as a sentinel for the females.
1851 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. (ed. 2) 503 Conception and Parturition, in the Human female.
1881 J. Lubbock Ants, Bees, & Wasps 8 The abdomen of the females sometimes increases in size.
1932 Times 24 Dec. 6/5 The male Nilghaic antelope..occasionally attacks and kills his females.
1957 Behaviour 11 33 The females and young of many birds are adapted to be difficult for predators to find.
1998 L. Zigman Animal Husbandry (1999) 218 Throughout the animal kingdom, males generally woo females, rather than the reverse.
3. A female plant or flower (cf. sense B. 1d). Also: a plant or flower to which femaleness was formerly attributed (cf. sense B. 8).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > flower or flowering plant > [noun] > type of
female?a1425
trusser1843
flowerer1850
?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 48 Mandrake..þe male haþe leuys like to bete, þe female haþe levis y-like to letuse.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Anagallis, an herbe.., the male hath red floures, the female blewe. some do suppose it to be our pympernell, some take it to be chykweede.
1551 W. Turner Herball (1568) i. C iij b Pympernell is of .ij. kyndes: it that hath the blewe floure, is called the female.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. vi. 268 The flowers of the female will not open, vnlesse the boughes and flowers of the male be ioined vnto them.
1698 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 20 466 [He] tells us how the Country-men ingravidate the Female with the Flowers of the Male [Pistachio-tree].
1720 P. Blair Bot. Ess. i. iv. 247 Thus in Mercurialis, Cannabis, Spinachia, those Plants which are now called the Females, were by them reputed Male-Plants, because their Seeds resemble the Testes.
1773 W. Hanbury Compl. Body Planting & Gardening I. Introd. p. xvi/2 Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua, consists of those plants the flowers of whose disks are hermaphrodites, and those of the radius females.
1806 B. M'Mahon Amer. Gardener's Cal. 174 The flowers of cucumbers and melons are male and female, separate, on the same plant, and the females produce the fruit.
1880 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 7 105 It is interesting to note that these male plants are not half the size of the females.
1921 Market Growers Jrnl. 15 Mar. 16/3 Male plants are usually single and females multiple-headed.
2005 M. Harrison South. Gardening i. 42 If the tree is a female and a male tree is nearby for pollination, bright red, orange, or sometimes yellow berries shine in the winter woods.
B. adj.
I. That belongs to the sex which can bear offspring (contrasted with male); characteristic of or relating to this sex. Cf. feminine adj.
1.
a. Designating the sex or (formerly) kind which can bear offspring.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > female > [adjective]
femalea1382
femininec1425
she1531
fem.1691
cow1751
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. vi. 19 Two þou schalt brynge in to þe ark, þat male sex & female.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iv. pr. vi. l. 3941 Þilke same ordre neweþ aȝein alle þinges growyng and fallyng a-doune by sembleables progressiouns of seedes and of sexes, þat is to sein, male and female.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia ii. sig. Riv All they which be of the male kind..sitte before the goodman of ye house, and they of the female kynde before the goodwyfe.
a1592 R. Greene Comicall Hist. Alphonsus (1599) v. sig. H1 Although it be a shame For knights to combat with the female sect.
1631 D. Widdowes tr. W. A. Scribonius Nat. Philos. (new ed.) 49 There be sexes of hearbes..namely, the Male or Female.
1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. iv. 222 Washing or Bathing..was a Recreative Exercise of the Female Sex.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. ix. 282 Big-udder'd ewes, and goats of female kind.
1772 W. Curtis tr. A. Blad Fundamenta Entomologiæ 57 Besides these of the male and female, a third sex exists in some Insects, which we call Neuter.
1814 F. Burney Wanderer III. v. xliv. 85 Young persons, especially of the female gender, being naturally given to laughter, at very small provocatives.
1962 Life 26 Jan. 95 (advt.) Ages of women—a photo-essay on the female sex from wide-eyed girlhood to tender grandmotherhood.
2003 K. Slater & J. Borte Pipe Dreams (2004) iv. 91 I thought I had an all-encompassing knowledge of the female gender. Obviously, I didn't.
b. Of human beings, as persons (cf. sense B. 1c).Also: of a mythical being that resembles a woman or girl.heir, line female: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective]
femalea1382
womanisha1393
faira1450
women's-kinsc1450
feminatea1533
womankind?c1570
womenkind1571
sex1700
mollyish1801
petticoated1824
femme1925
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. i. 27 God made of nouȝt man to þe ymage & his licknes..male & female [a1425 Corpus Oxf. maal and femaal, L. masculum et feminam] he made hem of nouȝt.
c1415 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Lansd.) (1877) §961 Wheþere þou be male or female, ȝonge or olde.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 154 Femelle, feminius.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxxiiv The issue female may not enherite accordyng to the lawe Salique.
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. E3 What sparkes they haue of inconstancie, they drawe from their female fosterers.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage ii. xiv. 192 If a female child be borne there is small solemnitie only.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 115 Twelue female beauties.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Somerset 28 A female Attendress at the Table..applyed her self wholly to him.
1743 H. Fielding Wedding Day i. iv. 7 I am at home to no more Female Relations this Morning.
1768 T. Gray Fatal Sisters in Poems 79 (note) The Valkyriur were female Divinities, Servants of Odin..in the Gothic mythology.
1779 E. Pendleton Let. 24 May in Lett. & Papers (1967) I. 286 A Standard fixed for the most choice planter slaves male and female, and the Assessors to rate others by that standard.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) IV. 394 The word issue equally comprehends male and female children.
1889 Cent. Mag. Oct. 918/2 Both male and female students are prepared to teach drawing and modeling.
1900 F. T. Elworthy Horns of Honour ii. 88 Female demons, or succubæ, were the constant tempters of both St. Jerome and St. Anthony.
1963 Observer 10 Feb. 24/3 Almost every female member of the British Press made a dead set for the hosiery counter at Galeries Lafayette.
2001 K. Perrin Flirting with Danger 12 Most of her female friends were always hoping to find the right man.
c. Of animals (including the human being as an animal species; cf. sense A. 2).Compare she pron.1, n., and adj. Compounds 1a(a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > family unit > [adjective] > female
femalea1398
jenny1600
hen1768
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xii. xviii. 628 The capoun is a cokke imade as hit were female by kervinge awey of his gendringe stones.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Hosea xiii. 8 As a femal bere [L. ursa], whanne the whelps ben rauyschid.
c1450 Med. Recipes (BL Add. 33996) in F. Heinrich Mittelengl. Medizinbuch (1896) 125 (MED) A femawle whit goot.
c1450 (a1375) Octavian (Calig.) (1979) l. 310 A femele ape.
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. eiij Other while he is male..And other while female and kyndelis by kynde.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Female dragon, dracena.
1568 (a1500) Colkelbie Sow iii. 97 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 307 Twentyfour chikkynis of Þame scho hes Twelf maill And twell famell be croniculis cleir.
a1631 J. Donne Progresse of Soule xxiii, in Poems (1633) 12 A female fishes sandie Roe With the males jelly, newly lev'ned was.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 490 The Femal Bee that feeds her Husband Drone. View more context for this quotation
1747 W. Gould Acct. Eng. Ants 57 Very like that of a Female Bee, Wasp, or Queen Ant, when not with Egg.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 298 He enclosed a female scorpion..in a glass vessel.
1836 Mag. Nat. Hist. 9 199 Female cats, I have frequently observed.., are particularly gratified in the exercise of maternal duties.
1870 H. C. Pennell Mod. Pract. Angler 148 A female Salmon.
1907 H. S. Gladstone in Brit. Birds 1 176 The female bird..uttering a low cry of ‘plip, plip’.
1960 B. I. Balinsky Human Embryol. xvi. 432 The primary sex characters distinguishing a male from a female animal are the sex glands—the testis and the ovary, respectively.
2009 J. A. Coyne Why Evol. is True ii. 45 The other fossil is a female theropod who met her end while sitting on her nest of twenty-two eggs.
d. Of plants: designating individuals of dioecious species whose flowers bear pistils and develop seeds or fruits, but lack functional stamens (cf. sense B. 8). Later also: designating a flower of this type.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > [adjective]
femalea1398
sexiferous1819
sexual1830
sexed1877
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [adjective] > having or relating to parts > of or having stamens or pistils > of or having style, pistil, or female parts
femalea1398
pistillaceous1760
pistilliferous1785
pistillate1828
stigmatic1830
stigmatiferous1831
styliferous1835
pistilline1842
pistilligerous1845
pistillary1848
pistilline1854
styline1866
pistillar1876
pistilloid1877
stigmatiform1888
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. ii. 892 If..þe rynde of a male palme is ydo to þe leues of þe femele..þe fruyt..schal be þe raþer ripe.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. vi. 268 Of date-trees some are male and some are female.
1751 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. II. 69 The Monilia all produce distinct male and female flowers.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 188 In the Ribes alpinum, the male and female flowers are sometimes found on different plants.
1822 S. Clarke Hortus Anglicus II. 576 The sexualists maintain, that the use of the insect was to carry the pollen of the male to the female flower.
1864 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener, & Country Gentleman 27 Sept. 254/1 I have never found occasional male flowers on a female plant, or occasional female flowers on a male plant.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. viii. 180 When, as happens in some plants, both male and female flowers are borne on one plant, the condition is termed monœcious.
1990 Plants & Gardens Autumn 33/3 As the tree is dioecious, only when you have both male and female trees growing together will they bear fruit.
2001 Sun 27 Jan. 49/1 Last year it produced female flowers for the first time but I have not seen any male ones.
e. Of the reproductive organs of an animal or plant: characteristic of the females of a species; producing gametes (ova) that can develop into a new individual, usually (but not always) after fertilization by a male gamete (as a spermatozoon). Also: designating such gametes, which are usually larger and less motile than the corresponding male gametes.
ΚΠ
1692 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 2) ii. 68 The Gemma or Cicatricula of the Egg contain'd in the female Ovary.
1724 W. Stukeley Ess. Anat. Elephant in Of Spleen 106 It is certain..from the known situation of the female parts, that the coitus can never be performed..breech to breech.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Dioecia, in Botany, a class of plants which have the male and female parts..in different flowers, and..on different plants of the same species.
1810 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 100 215 In the opossum tribe, and all the pouched animals in New South Wales, there is a peculiarity in the form of the female organs of generation, which has not been understood.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 76 The stamen..is called..the male part; the pistil, being the recipient, is called the female.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 897 The female cell or oosphere.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 967 It often happens that the essential male organs (the testes) and the essential female organs (the ovaries) occur normally in the same individual,..and this state of affairs is called hermaphroditism.
1954 E. P. Abraham in H. W. Florey Lect. Gen. Pathol. xiii. 253 Each chromosome contributed to the zygote by the male gamete is, in general, homologous with a corresponding chromosome contributed by the female gamete.
1978 Bot. Gaz. 139 256/2 The female organ is first evident as a protuberance adjacent to the elongated antheridium.
2000 C. Tudge Variety of Life ii. xxiv. 578 In the centre of the flower are the female parts of the flower, collectively called the gynoecium and consisting of one or several carpels.
2.
a. Of or relating to a woman or girl.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > relating to
wifelyeOE
womanisha1393
femalea1398
wivenc1400
feminine1490
womanly1562
gynaecian1640
muliebral1651
feminal1739
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xiv. ii. 691 In tokne of so grete plentee a grete femal ymage [L. magna imago femina] was ymade and yclepid alma mater ‘þe hiȝe modir’.
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos vii. sig. T.iii Both Turnus care, and wrath, her female brest enflaming broyld.
1598 J. Marston Certaine Satyres in Metamorph. Pigmalions Image 42 [He] With that depaints a church reformed state, The which the female tongues magnificate.
1635 A. Stafford (title) The femall glory: or, the life..of our blessed Lady.
1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Twelfth Bk. Metamorphoses in Fables 449 By a Female Hand..He was to die.
1781 S. Johnson Pope in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VII. 296 The whole detail of a female-day.
1801 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 5 50 In..cases where malacosteon has made such dreadful ravages in the female constitution.
1858 W. E. Gladstone Stud. Homer II. 51 That introduction of the female principle into the sphere of deity, which the Greeks seem to have adopted.
1940 Times 29 June 4/6 The wireless seems to affect the female voice more adversely than the male voice.
2002 R. McGrath Seeing her Sex iii. 87 No image has more power..than the image of the body; and for the male, perhaps, this is especially true of the female body.
b. Engaged in or exercised by women; done by women.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > carried on by
womanisha1393
female1579
feminine1649
1579 B. Garter Newyeares Gifte sig. L.iiij No fish nor foule by craft nor skill, nor youth by female fraudes Haue bin deceivde, as al the world hath bin by Romish gaudes.
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor ii. i. 176 Goropius vndertakes a coniecture of the first cause which excluded Ginæcocratie (or female succession and gouernment) among them.
a1690 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll.: Third Pt. (1721) II. 358 Serjeant Francis, and one Mr. Pulford were committed for encouraging this Female Riot.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. 153 A female reign would have appeared an inexpiable prodigy.
1847 Floridian 10 July Female government—a man may live under it his lifetime and never know it.
1888 I. K. Ritchie In Love & Honour v. 46 His mother's ill-timed indulgences and reproofs..had already sown the seeds for a profound contempt for female control.
1970 Jet 9 Apr. 43 We had a mail strike. A female strike will balance it off.
2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Apr. 22/3 Men are the unwitting tokens in female power-games.
3.
a. Of a quality, attribute, etc.: peculiar to or characteristic of a woman or women.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > characteristic of
womanisha1393
womanlyc1400
feminec1425
femininec1425
she1531
wifish1535
female1566
ladylike1566
womenish1604
tender-hefteda1616
ladied1628
feminary1630
feminile1650
feminal1875
1566 J. Studley tr. Seneca Medea i. f.3v Exile all folysh female feare [L. pelle femineos metus].
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. v. 260 And so [she] staied indeede, thinking Philoclea would haue had a female inquisitiuenesse of the matter.
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne ii. iii, in Wks. I. 545 Nor, i'st a tale, That female vice should be a vertue male. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 999 Fondly overcome with Femal charm. View more context for this quotation
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. May (1965) I. 405 A true female spirit of Contradiction.
1790 M. O. Warren Ladies of Castile iv. iii. 151 Forbear to practise hackney'd female arts, Thy sex's tears have ruin'd half mankind.
1822 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 2 Mar. 1/2 Coquetry stands next to the want of chastity in the scale of female vices.
1855 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes II. xxi. 210 ‘My-dearesting’ each other with..female fervour.
1863 Sat. Rev. 385 These letters..Johnsonian in aim, and intensely female—we do not mean feminine—in style.
1903 T. W. H. Crosland Five Notions 39 Eve,..By pretty, female tricks, Helped to bring us, her children, Into our present fix.
1934 G. Greene It's a Battlefield ii. 76 It lacks the female touch. A man's den.
1992 A. Myers tr. F. Dostoevsky Idiot iv. 534 It was this last that Varya had divined with her unerring female intuition.
2002 B. Cherry in M. Jancovich Horror xiv. 175 Ripley's strength in Alien is very female—a very female level of practicality that movies like Predator don't have.
b. Designating an item, esp. of clothing, designed for women; adapted for use by women or girls.
ΚΠ
1598 L. A. tr. G. Fernandez Honour of Chiualrie xxiv.140 Hee hid his female Robes.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. iii. 83 I..clothed him in a female habite.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea I. ii. l. 333 In..European dress, there is not any thing..half so absurd and ridiculous as that part of the female furniture called a Hoop.
1795 T. Cole Life Hubert I. 12 How best to deck their dolls With female gear.
1871 J. W. De Forest Overland xv. 80 She was quite amazed when she learned that..the maidens whom she had admired were boys dressed up in female raiment.
1899 V. Neesen Dr. Neesen's Bk. on Wheeling iii. 94 In the chapter for women, the proper female saddle is fully described.
1966 Times 25 May 17/3 Coat hangers designed for female clothes.
1993 N. Whiteley Design for Society (1998) iv. 138 Most female shavers are clearly gendered through colour (white for purity or hygiene; or colour for fashionability).
c. Designating a room, building, institution, etc., for accommodation of or use by women or girls only.
ΚΠ
1730 E. Wright Some Observ. France, Italy, &c. I. 79 There are in Venice four of these Female Hospitals.
1769 Town & Country Mag. Mar. 142/2 Scholastica..receiving the veil from Benedict,..became also the foundress of a female seminary.
1798 Analyt. Rev. 28 539 The following plan,..for the establishment of a female college, appears to us particularly important and judicious.
1809 E. A. Kendall Trav. Northern Parts U.S. II. lv. 252 The Female Asylum,..for maintaining and educating orphan and other indigent female children.
1825 Rep. Inspectors Gen. Prisons of Ireland 47 in Estimates, Accts. & Papers 3 Feb.-6 July 22 The keeper..was ignorant of the rules and regulations, though posted in the prison, and had violated them by converting the female room..to his own private use.
1865 Lancet 30 Sept. 391/1 The out-patients' department, consisting of an entrance vestibule leading to male and female waiting-rooms, a dispensing room, [etc.].
1877 Brit. Architect Nov. 216/2 The want of Female Lavatories and Conveniences having been long felt in the City.
1899 Christian Advocate 12 Jan. 61/2 The Wesleyan Female College at Macon, Ga., claims to be the first chartered college for women..in the world.
1907 I. Malcolm Indian Pictures & Probl. xviii. 251 This mausoleum dedicated to an incurable disease [sc. leprosy], a fine red brick building with its male and female wards.
1984 Times 2 Jan. 7/6 In case..women executives don't feel able to handle the..high jinks of business travel, the managements have introduced segregated female areas.
1994 F. Sparshott in M. H. Mitias Philos. & Archit. i. 4 The provision or failure to provide washrooms in a church or a theater..and the apportionment of space between male and female washrooms.., are political acts of great consequence.
2011 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 10 Oct. 4 Scotland's only female prison has been named as the most violent in the country.
4. Of a group, etc.: composed or consisting of women or girls.
ΚΠ
1568 T. Howell Arbor of Amitie f. 34v How frayle is then the female flock, that counterfeits their smart?
1659 H. Hammond Paraphr. & Annot. Psalms (lxviii. 11 Annot.) 333/2 All the femal quire..solemnly came out.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 614 That fair femal Troop..that seemd Of Goddesses. View more context for this quotation
1711 J. Swift Let. 24 Feb. (1768) IV. 238 They keep as good female company as I do male.
1781 H. Cowley Belle's Stratagem v. 70 You, forsooth, the whole female world is concern'd for.
1800 J. Moore Mordaunt II. lii. 293 Forsaken by all her female acquaintance.
1880 R. Foli Ill Weeds xxxviii. 318 ‘Oh, do tell us,’ exclaimed the female audience, drawing nearer to the gay young footman.
1906 Washington Post 29 June 7/6 A female band played on the White Lot yesterday, and the novelty of the affair attracted an immense crowd.
1988 J. B. Landes Women & Public Sphere Age French Revol. iv. 145 Chaumette's proposal that..no future female deputation be received..was warmly applauded.
2005 PR Newswire (Nexis) 2 May The company..introduced its female targeted wine brand.., following extensive qualitative research with female focus groups.
5. † b. Simple, plain, undisguised. Obsolete. rare.† c. Inferior. Obsolete. rare.
a. derogatory. Of a man's actions, qualities, etc.: befitting or characteristic of a woman (as perceived as inferior to a man); weak, petty; inferior (now rare). Of a man or boy: possessing womanly qualities; effeminate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > man > [adjective] > effeminate man
womanisha1393
womanlike1440
feminatea1533
effeminate1549
womanlike1565
cockney1573
feminine1614
androgynous1628
muliebrious1652
petit maître1729
Miss Nancyish1855
gynaecomorphous1865
gynandrous1878
girly-girly1882
nancified1901
wimbly-wambly1929
tapette1930
queeny1936
female1940
poofed-up1964
pansy-ass1976
wussy1977
effete1981
1594 C. Marlowe & T. Nashe Dido iv. iii I may not dure this female drudgery.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II iii. ii. 110 Boies..clap their femal ioints, In stiffe vnweildy armes. View more context for this quotation
1676 J. Dryden Aureng-Zebe iv. 53 I smile at what your Female fear foresees.
1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. i. 469 Your female discord end, Ye deedless boasters!
1771 O. Goldsmith Hist. Eng. II. 227 The king remained in his tent, awaiting the issue of the combat with female doubts and apprehensions.
a1864 W. S. Landor Poems (1892) II. 261 But female fear impell'd me past the Alps.
1940 W. V. T. Clark Ox-bow Incident iv. 260 Tetley said to Gerald, ‘I'll have no female boys bearing my name. You'll do your part, and say nothing more.’
2002 J. Kuriansky Compl. Idiot's Guide Tantric Sex ix. 112 Damian was being too ‘female’..for her taste.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > manifestness > openness or unconcealedness > [adjective]
openlyeOE
underna900
openeOE
utterly12..
unhida1300
perta1325
apert1330
nakeda1382
public1394
patenta1398
foreign?c1400
overtc1400
unrecovered1433
publicalc1450
open-visageda1513
bare1526
uncloaked1539
subject1556
uncovered1577
unmasked1590
facely1593
undisguised1598
female1602
unveiled1606
unshrouded1610
barefaceda1616
disclouded1615
unhiddena1616
broad-faced1643
with full miena1657
undissembled1671
frank1752
bald-faced1761
unconfidential1772
ostensible1782
unglossed1802
undisguising1813
unvisored1827
unconcealed1839
disprivacied1848
disguiseless1850
bald1854
unobscured1879
visible1885
open door1898
above ground1976
the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adjective] > without addition or qualification > bare or mere
mereeOE
nakedOE
barec1200
purec1325
singlec1421
very1548
nude1551
absolute?1570
blank1596
female1602
clear1606
1602 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. ii. sig. Gv To tell you the femall truth (which is the simple truth) Ladies. View more context for this quotation
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > [adjective]
evil971
lowc1175
poor?c1225
feeblec1275
vilea1300
petty1372
unthende1377
secondary1386
petitc1390
unmeeta1393
illa1400
commonc1400
coarse1424
indigent1426
unlikelyc1450
lesser1464
gross1474
naughty1526
inferior1531
reprobate?1545
slender1577
unlikely1578
puny1579
under1580
wooden1592
sordid1596
puisne1598
provant1601
subministrant1604
inferious1607
sublunary1624
indifferent1638
undermatched1642
unworthy1646
underly1648
turncoated1650
female1652
undergraduate1655
farandinical1675
baddishc1736
ungenerous1745
understrapping1762
tinnified1794
demi-semi1805
shabby1805
dicky1819
poor white1821
tin-pot1838
deterior1848
substandard1850
crumby1859
cheesy1863
po'1866
not-quite1867
rocky1873
mouldy1876
low-grade1878
sketchy1878
midget1879
junky1880
ullaged1892
abysmal1904
bodgie1905
junk1908
crap1936
ropy1941
bodger1945
two-star1951
tripey1955
manky1958
schlocky1960
cack1978
wank1991
bowf1994
the world > space > relative position > low position > [adjective] > lower in position
netherOE
nethermorea1382
downwarda1400
inferial?a1475
inferior?a1475
subject?a1475
lower1611
subordinate1648
female1652
lowermore1663
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved ix. 48 Where there can be a Male-Improvement offer not to the Common-Wealth a Female.
II. Of material and immaterial things: having a colour, size, strength, or other property associated with the female sex, esp. as compared to a corresponding object regarded as male.† 9. Designating the soft inner layer of a horse's hoof. Obsolete. rare.
6. Designating something to which femaleness is attributed, typically on the basis of some perceived or assigned quality associated with the female sex. Cf. feminine adj. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > female > [adjective] > of objects
femalea1398
femininec1450
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. viii. xi. 475 Venus is female, a nyȝt planete, mene bitwene hoot and coold and moisture. And Mercurius is of temperat kynde, a day planete, now male, now female.
?1570 tr. Shepardes Kalendar (rev. ed.) sig. Lv The Moone..is called feminine or female, and is called amonge the shepardes the Lady of the night.
1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke ii. iii. 112 Ye have also seene in the aforesaid salt a hermaphroditicall nature—male and female, fixed and volatil.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 142 In all..wine countries the white is called the female, and the claret or red wine is called the male, because commonly it hath more sulphur, body and heat in't.
1732 W. Ellis Pract. Farmer 93 Common crude or single Salt, if strew'd on the Ground, is thought by some..to..corrode and burn it; but they say, Lime betters it: yet they agree in this, that the coupling of these male and female Salts makes a high improvement.
1832 W. Mure Diss. Cal. & Zodiac Anc. Egypt App. 224 So this being Isis..was a female star.
1889 Trans. Asiatic Soc. Japan 17 31 Rocks used singly in gardening have no sex, but with stones of different character placed side by side one will be called O ishi (male stone), and the other Me ishi (female stone).
1900 B. Whitby Bequeathed xii. 199 Nature is female; she has turns, twists, blind alleys to confound those who follow her.
1983 New Scientist 29 Sept. 996/2 I cannot understand why ships and most aircraft and motor cars are gratuitously female.
2002 R. Pollock Everything World's Relig. Bk. xi. 150 Yin and Yang..the complementary forces that make up all aspects of life. Yin is..female, earth, dark, passive, and absorbing. Yang is male, heaven, light, active, and penetrating.
7. Of a precious or semi-precious stone: having qualities perceived as feminine, esp. paleness of colour. Cf. male adj. 3a. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > [adjective] > quality
noblea1393
femalea1398
malea1398
orientc1400
fine-cut1598
of the old (also new) rock1598
watered1624
occidental1747
semi-precious1905
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvi. xxxviii. 845 Echites is..double..male and female.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 105 Þei [sc. diamonds] growen togedre male & femele.
a1500 in J. Evans & M. S. Serjeantson Eng. Mediaeval Lapidaries (1933) 118 (MED) Proinces is a stone of femal kend..for somtyme he conceyueþ & bereþ such anoþer stone.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxxvii. vii. 617 The female Sandastres..carrie not such an ardent shew of fire.
1685 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis (new ed.) iii. iv. 286 Two little white or pale Saphires... By some called The Female: and so the paler kinds of other Gems.
1728 J. Woodward Fossils All Kinds 23 This [sc. a carnelian] has its Name from its Flesh-Colour..which is, in some of these Stones, paler, when 'tis call'd the female Carnelion.
1748 tr. Vegetius Of Distempers Horses 42 Of Jeat-stone, male and female, three ounces each.
1865 H. Emanuel Diamonds & Precious Stones 112 The ancients called sapphires male and female..the pale blue, approaching the white, [was] the female.
1955 M. C. Bandy & J. A. Bandy in tr. G. Agricola De Natura Fossilium vi. 130 Female gems were always lighter and brighter colored than the male.
1991 D. B. Polk Island Calif. (1995) i. 25 A limitless supply of ready-cut diamonds was assured by the fact that there were male and female stones that could ‘engender commonly and bring forth small children’.
8. Designating certain plants to which the female sex was formerly attributed on account of some distinctive feature, such as shape, colour, size, or robustness. See also female fern n., female hemp n. at Compounds 2b. Now historical.female peony, pimpernel, etc.: see the second element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > flower or flowering plant > [adjective] > characterized by parts or form > characterized by sex of flowers > on the basis of habit, colour, etc.
femalea1398
male1562
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. liii. 945 Of yvy is double kynde, white and blak, male and female [L. masculus & femina]..Þe white yvy haþ white fruyt and þe blak haþ blak.
?c1450 in G. Müller Aus Mittelengl. Medizintexten (1929) 84 Take..of femaille hempe v croppes [etc.].
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry ii. f. 102v The female Elmes..haue no seede.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. lix. 219 The second kinde of Orchios..is of twoo sortes Male and Female.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball vi. li. 726 The wilde Cornell tree, is called..in Latin, Cornus fœmina: in Englishe, the female Cornel tree.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iv. i. 42 The female Iuy so Enrings the barky fingers of the Elme. View more context for this quotation
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi vi. §4. 262 Lavender (as it is supposed) is but the female plant of that which we call Spike.
1667 N. Fairfax Let. 5 Dec. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1967) IV. 12 Every hedg almost abounds wth female or French Mercury.
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 27 a The female Larch Tree..is almost of the Colour of Honey.
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xxvii. 416 Two of the most common sorts with double bulbs, are foolishly called Male and Female Orchis, because there is no distinction of sexes.
1788 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 80 275 The Female Bamboo..is distinguished by the largeness of its cavity from the male.
1833 H. Ellis Elgin Marbles I. v. 105 The female myrtle.
1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names Female Hems. ‘Wild hemp’... This is most likely Galeopsis Tetrahit.
1908 E. Step Wayside & Woodland Ferns 45 The ancients had their Male and Female-ferns, their Filix-mas and Filix-fœmina.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [adjective] > having particular type of feet > of feet of
female1639
navicular1816
coronary1843
boxy1891
1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. iv. 72 If the foot be bruised with the shoo, or that the femall horn be hurt.
10. Designating the secondary layer of soft cork that grows on the trunk of a cork oak after the removal of the hard primary layer.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > part of tree or woody plant > wood > [adjective] > of or relating to bark
coated1737
barken1755
barky1835
female1849
male1884
1849 J. W. Tyndale Island of Sardinia II. i. 5 The external cuticle called the ‘male’ bark, only used for the fishermen's nets and tonnare in the island, is not considered of sufficient value to pay the expense of exportation; and the brick colored cellular tissue covering the good or ‘female’ cork, is called ‘la camisa’—the shift.
1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 557 The..superficially-formed layer (called the male) is removed from the stem..a new periderm appears..This periderm grows quicker than the external male cork, and is used technically as ‘female cork’.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1452 When the outer layer has been cut off with an axe,..there grows a secondary layer—the female cork—which is ready for harvesting in eight to ten years.
1952 Taxon 1 108 In Sardinia, the cork oak yields two kinds of cork, the outer, coarse bark, known as ‘male cork’ and the inner, smooth bark, the ‘female cork’.
2008 Times–Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Nexis) 27 Dec. d2 With each harvest the cork produced improves in quality and has now been dubbed..the ‘female cork’.
III. In extended use.
11. Of an instrument, mechanical device, or connector: having a concave or hollow end, in contrast to a similar type with a projection or convexity at the end (designated male); (in later use esp.) adapted to fit around or receive a corresponding male part. See also Compounds 2c.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > parts of tools generally > [adjective] > other types of part
male1585
female1776
self1776
he1816
she1816
1585 J. Banister Wecker's Compend. Chyrurg. ii. 273 If it haue a sharpe point (which you shall finde by searching with your probe) then you must vse the female propulsorie instrument, but if it haue a hollowe or socket, the male propulsorie.
1588 J. Read tr. F. Arcaeus Compend. Method i. iii. f. 9v The Trepan is of two sortes, one male, and the other female [L. alterum masculum, fœminam alterum].
1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xvi. vii. 599 Now the screw-rod or male-screw runnes into the female by the twining about of the handle.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. xii. 433/1 There is no difference between the male and female Trepan, but for the Pin in the middle which the female wants.
1743 tr. L. Heister Gen. Syst. Surg. I. 360 The Trepan is then termed Female.
1776 J. Bentham Let. 24 Feb. (1968) I. 299 The female parts of the work may no longer admitt the male.
1843 U.S. Patent 3,350 2/2 The yellow shaded spots around the outer part of the cylinder head..represent the female part of a metal hinge.
a1856 H. Miller Paper in Old Red Sandstone (1874) 342 The male half of the hinge belongs to the head, and the female half to the jaw.
1884 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. III. ii Female joint, the socket or faucet-piece of a spigot-and-faucet joint.
1943 Resistance Welding Wrought Aluminium Alloys (Aluminium Federation Information Bull. No. 6) 20 Two types of electrodes are generally used in Great Britain, namely, (a) male electrodes, which fit into a socket in the electrode holder.., and (b) female electrodes with a standard morse taper socket which fits over a projection from the electrode holder.
1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) ii. 36 Each length has at one end a male tool joint consisting of a coarse pitch tapered thread and, at the other, a matching female joint consisting of a heavy coupling or collar one end of which is permanently screwed on to the pipe.
1990 Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbk. 8 iii. 56/3 Opening said flap reveals a male serial port, a female parallel port, a D-connector for an external monitor, and a pair of modular telephone jacks.
1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) viii. 362/4 (caption) Bib-tap wall plate for fixing tap on outside wall—compression joint for supply pipe, threaded female connector for tap.
2006 Good Woodworking June 85/3 Making a worktop is more involved, with male, female, left and right joints involved.
Phrases
P1. colloquial. the female of the species: a woman or girl; the female or females (as distinguished from the male or males) in a particular group; (with singular agreement) women collectively.In early use with particular reference to human beings as a species of animal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > women collectively
wifkinOE
womanOE
womankinc1175
womankindc1175
womenkina1387
womenkinda1387
womanhoodc1405
feminityc1425
femininityc1450
femininec1451
the fair (also gentle, soft, weak, etc.) sex1536
the second sex1536
the woman sex1536
feminie1541
mesdames1552
the fairer (also gentler, softer, weaker, etc.) sex1578
sex1589
ladyhooda1666
fair1687
wimmin1710
womenfolk1729
mesdemoiselles1739
the female of the species1795
femalitiesc1801
ladykind1829
womanity1836
womandom1838
ladydom1843
petticoatery1849
tea-body1865
muslin1884
the skirt1899
quim1909
womyn1975
womxn1991
1795 tr. E. Swedenborg Arcana Cœlestia VI. xxxiii. 97 The Term Two, here applied to those who are in the Field..is in the Masculine Gender, as denoting the Male of the human Species; whereas..when applied to those who are at the Mill, is in the Feminine Gender, denoting the Female of the Species.
1845 ‘T. Brown, Redivivus’ Expos. Vulgar & Common Errors 39 As reason..is the peculiar faculty of man,..we might, by analogy [with animals], conclude that the female of the species possessed it in an equal degree.
1922 P. G. Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert ix. 220 The Bingley-Perkins combination, owing to some inspired work by the female of the species, managed to keep their lead.
1961 J. Maclaren-Ross Doomsday Bk. ii. iii. 128 The female of the species first—take hold of her arm, George.
2010 Sunday Independent (Ireland) (Nexis) 7 Nov. Initially, everyone is nice to each other's faces, but before long they've all slipped into the kind of catty warfare associated with the female of the species.
P2. the female of the species is more deadly than the male and variants: (after or in allusion to Kipling, see quot. 1911) a woman is more ruthless and vicious than a man.
ΚΠ
1911 R. Kipling Female of Species in Morning Post 20 Oct. 7/3 When hunter meets with husband, each confirms the other's tale—The female of the species is more deadly than the male.
1915 Public 18 442/1 It is poor logic that declares that the ‘female of the species is more deadly than the male’, because the courtesan near the throne precipitates a war, or a poverty-maddened virago mans a street barricade.
1986 P. E. Firchow Death of German Cousin 111 Mary demonstrates the ‘truth’ that the female of the species is deadlier than the male: she puts paid to a German.
2007 Times (Nexis) 13 Jan. 69 The female of the species is more deadly than the male. Especially when you criticise her child or her child-rearing competence.
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the noun.
a. General attributive and objective, as female bar, female education, female employment, female-foe, female hater, etc.
ΚΠ
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V i. ii. 42 Faramont the founder of this law and female barre.
1655 J. Howell 4th Vol. Familiar Lett. vii. 18 A thousand such instances are not able to make me a Mysogenes, a Female-foe.
1701 Refl. Moral State Nation 23 The most celebrated Academies for Female Education.
1726 Apothecary's Petition to Canonical Judge (broadsheet) A grand Female hater.
1831 Morning Chron. 15 June The pamphlet described him as ‘Physician Extraordinary to several ladies of distinction’, his success among whom..entitled him to the name of ‘The Female Destroyer’.
1839 Foreign Monthly Rev. Oct. 624 To enlarge the sphere of female employment is a task worthy of the attention of the Christian, the philanthropist, and the statesman.
1903 E. Bisland Candle of Understanding iii. 31 A melancholy conviction in our family that female education necessarily included a profound knowledge of the uses of the needle.
1959 Billboard 23 Mar. 70/4 (advt.) Work wanted—Cowboy or Wild Animal Trainer... Animal lover. Female hater.
2005 T. White Broadcast News (ed. 4) iv. 38 Club officials broke the female ban after..[she] threatened to go to court to win the right to enter the locker room after games.
b. Forming adjectives in combination with a past participle.
female-centred adj.
ΚΠ
1945 Amer. Anthropologist 47 543 The female-centered clan system versus the male-centered ceremonial system.
1966 Ebony Aug. 52/2 A female-centered family form emerges where the female assumes, not only the role of mother, but of provider as well.
1983 J. Hamerman Robbins & R. Josefowitz Siegel Women changing Therapy 178 The process of exposing the..male centeredness and male dominance may be perceived as favoring the female partner or as imposing female-centered values.
2010 B. McNair Journalists in Film vii. 110 The Devil Wears Prada..addresses the subject of style journalism from a much more female-centred..perspective.
female-dominated adj.
ΚΠ
1911 S. Nearing Wages in U.S., 1908–10 84 The male dominated industries are, on the whole, much higher paid than the female dominated industries.
1961 Times 12 Oct. 10/1 America has been described as..the most female-dominated society of the 20th century.
2003 Marie Claire Dec. 94 Working in a female-dominated environment.., I don't meet many available men.
female-focused adj.
ΚΠ
1961 Playboy July 79/1 The Sunset strippery debuted early this year with Le Crazy Horse Revue, giving Hollywood..a female-focused extravaganza executed with charm, wit and imagination.
1988 Family Planning Perspectives 20 236/3 Many female clients appear to prefer..an exclusively female-focused [family planning] facility.
2009 W. Higham Next Big Thing iii. 30 Men have become a key new market for the previously female-focused cosmetics industry.
female-fronted adj.
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1980 Chicago Tribune 28 Apr. ii. 3/2 The once-unique Blondie now has plenty of company in the female-fronted band category.
2011 B. Sheetz-Runkle Sun Tzu for Women viii. 80 Female-fronted businesses get only 5 percent of venture capital.
female-orientated adj.
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1961 C. Quigley Evol. Civilizations vi. 124 Peaceful, earth-loving, fertility-dominated, female-orientated peasant peoples.
1976 Times 18 Nov. 18/4 Fashion has been so female-orientated recently that it is easy to overlook the part played by male style in society and literature.
2001 S. M. Whitehead & F. J. Barrett Masculinities Reader 9 Male-dominated industrialization has largely given way to more female-orientated service industries.
female-oriented adj.
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1952 D. Morris in Behaviour 4 236 (caption) Courtship A. Female-oriented dancing on the part of the black male [fish].
1966 L. Kohlberg in E. E. Maccoby Developm. Sex Differences 150 While the bright boys are becoming more female oriented (in the years four to six), the average boys are becoming more male oriented.
1998 Chicago Tribune 24 Dec. i. 12/3 ‘Girl Talk’ blended news, entertainment, celebrity interviews and female-oriented features.
female-owned adj.
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1895 Friends' Intelligencer & Jrnl. 16 Mar. 178/2 White female-owned farms and homes covered by mortgage.]
1962 Southwestern Jrnl. Anthropol. 18 11 Those goods which are exclusively male owned..passing through male hands, and female owned goods such as utensils through female hands.
2001 A. Crittenden Price of Motherhood v. 97 Female-owned small businesses have increased twofold over small businesses owned by men in recent years.
c.
female-bane n. [after classical Latin thēlyphonon or its etymon Hellenistic Greek θηλυϕόνον, the name of a poisonous plant, lit. ‘a thing deadly to females’] rare a poisonous plant mentioned by ancient authors, perhaps a kind of aconite.The plant has sometimes been identified with yellow monkshood, Aconitum anthora, or leopard's bane, Doronicum pardalianches.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > poison > [noun] > poisons from plants
aconitum?a1450
aconite1569
cocculus indicus1591
female-bane1601
timbo1725
Suriname poison1756
ipoh1779
upas1783
tanghin1788
picrotoxin1815
nicotine1817
strychnine1819
vauqueline1819
brucia1820
brucine1820
picrotoxia1823
strychnia1823
digitalin1824
dulcamara1828
conine1829
bikh1830
nicotia1830
atropine1836
menispermia1837
nicotina1838
solanine1838
strychnina1838
tanghicin1838
urari1838
conia1842
conicine1842
amanitine1847
oenanthin1848
menispermine1849
tetanine1857
hyoscyamine1858
barbasco1860
nicotylia1862
antiarin1863
xylostein1864
oleandrin1866
zebra poison1871
andromedotoxin1883
abrin1884
ouabain1888
strophanthus1888
toxiresin1890
manchineel1891
tuba1898
taxine1907
phytotoxin1909
oenanthotoxin1911
hypoglycin1954
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 271 Others, for the reason before shewed, call it [sc. Aconite] Theliphonon. [margin] Femalbane.
2005 Jrnl. Mod. Lit. 29 i. 98 Thelyphonon is Greek for ‘female-bane’ or ‘women-murdering’.
female bonding n. (the formation of) friendship and loyalty between females, esp. between a particular pair of female associates; cf. male bonding n. at male adj. and n.1 Compounds 1c.
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1969 L. Tiger Men in Groups viii. 216 I have not in this book discussed homoerotic behaviour, and that particular form of male bonding and female bonding loosely called ‘the homosexual community’.
1984 Adweek (U.S.) (Nexis) 1 Aug. After all the back-slapping scenes in those beer ads, why not some female bonding?
2004 K. Fox Watching Eng. (2005) i. 56 Female bonding typically involves more ‘matching’ and co-operation.
female circumcision n. any of various procedures performed on the external genitals of a girl or (rarely) woman, originally regarded as being analogous to circumcision in males; the practice of performing such procedures (cf. female genital cutting n., female genital mutilation n.).If truly analogous to male circumcision, such a procedure would involve only the removal of the prepuce (hood) of the clitoris, but in practice this rarely occurs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > [noun] > operations on sex organs > operations on female sex organs
female circumcision1697
nymphotomy1704
hysterotomy1707
ovariotomy1844
clitoridectomy1866
hysterectomy1872
oophorectomy1872
ovariectomy1873
clitorectomy1880
genital mutilation1884
myomotomy1884
myomectomy1886
salpingectomy1888
panhysterectomy1890
salpingo-oöphorectomy1890
trachelotomy1890
dilatation and curettage1906
vulvectomy1916
tubectomy1925
hymenectomy1931
salpingolysis1937
labiaplasty1964
scrape1968
female genital cutting1996
1697 W. Nicholls Conf. with Theist: Pt. II 259 The Ægyptians had among them a Sort of a Female Circumcision mentioned by Strabo, a custom never dreamt of among the Jews.
1799 Anti-Jacobin Rev. 3 App. 568 On female circumcision, whoever wishes to be particularly informed, may consult Mr. Sonnini, or his clerical interpreter... Some squeamish translators might have omitted some of these articles.
1867 Trans. Ethnol. Soc. London 5 94 The same custom of female circumcision prevails among the Somali as among the Abyssinians.
1980 S. Hetata tr. N. El Saadawi Hidden Face of Eve vi. 41 In the final analysis we can say that female circumcision, the chastity belt and other savage practices applied to women are basically the result of the economic interests that govern society.
2004 Global Rhythm Jan. 50/3 Broken Spears is her testament to the journey, capturing the traditions—including the common practice of female circumcision, removal of the clitoris—in both picture and text.
female complaints n. euphemistic ailments that afflict women; spec. gynaecological ailments (also in singular); cf. female troubles n.
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1757 A. Cooper Compl. Distiller iii. xxvi. 189 It is..given to promote Delivery..; as also to open Menstrual Obstructions, and in abundance of other Female Complaints.
1781 London Med. Jrnl. 1 151 Our author speaks of the fluor albus as occurring..more frequently than any other female complaint.
1859 I. Warren Househ. Physician 338 Female complaints begin to make their appearance at the period of life called puberty.
1908 Fruit Grower Oct. 392/3 (advt.) It cures female complaint right in the privacy of home. It makes unnecessary the disagreeable questioning, examinations and local treatment so..abhorrent to every modest woman.
1991 N. Pickard I.O.U. 80 I didn't remember my mother ever complaining about difficult periods... But then maybe her generation was more circumspect about ‘female complaints’ than mine was.
female determiner n. Biology a gene or other factor which determines an individual's sex as female; a female sex determiner.
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1910 E. B. Wilson in Sci. Progress Apr. 586 The following assumptions must apparently be made: (1) the fertilised egg contains, as usual, a dominant female-determiner (X1) and a recessive male-determiner (X2); [etc.].
1945 E. Altenburg Genetics vi. 109 Determiners of both types are in both the X and in the autosomes, but the female determiners predominate in the X, the male determiners in the autosomes.
1991 Science 1 Mar. 1074/1 We now know that the specific X-linked female determiners exist and that at least one, sis-b, is a conventional (protein encoding) gene.
female-determining adj. Biology that determines an individual's sex as female.
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1905 T. H. Morgan in Science 21 Apr. 634/2 If male-determining and female-determining spermatozoa exist the gynandromorphous condition in the bee might also be accounted for on the ground that a male spermatozoon as well as a female spermatozoon has entered the egg.
1957 New Biol. 23 23 The barred horizontal line represents the threshold between male-determining and female-determining concentration zones.
2007 C. L. Winfield Gender Identity iv. 58 At conception, the egg cell provides an X chromosome, and the sperm cell provides either a female-determining X chromosome or a male-determining Y chromosome.
2011 Molecular Biol. Rep. 38 275 R-spondin1 (RSPO1) is a potential female-determining gene in human (Homo sapiens) and mouse (Mus musculus). Its differential expression in these mammals is correlated with signaling for sex determination.
female–female adj. occurring or existing between females.
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1964 Wildlife Monologues Apr. 30/2 There were only 50 female-female interactions recorded in the cottontail study.
1970 R. L. Birdwhistell Kinesics & Context vi. 45 He degenderizes his female respondent by returning a message more appropriate to a female-female interaction than a male-female interaction.
2004 Washington Post (Nexis) 17 Nov. c2 Do you think a female-female friendship can threaten the intimacy of a romantic relationship?
female-friendly adj. amenable to or suitable for women or girls; designed with the needs or interests of women in mind.
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1984 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 10 Jan. b7 (heading) Perhaps because of its newness, cable TV more ‘female friendly’ in middle management.
1995 Internet World Aug. 8/1 Perhaps the gender imbalance of men to women on the Internet could be more quickly corrected if the Internet were made more female-friendly.
2010 J. Howard Mastering Cycling x. 154 Today, women can choose from several female-friendly saddles.
female genital cutting n. partial or total removal of, or other alteration to, the external genitals of a girl or woman, carried out for non-medical reasons; the practice of performing such procedures; abbreviated FGC.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > [noun] > operations on sex organs > operations on female sex organs
female circumcision1697
nymphotomy1704
hysterotomy1707
ovariotomy1844
clitoridectomy1866
hysterectomy1872
oophorectomy1872
ovariectomy1873
clitorectomy1880
genital mutilation1884
myomotomy1884
myomectomy1886
salpingectomy1888
panhysterectomy1890
salpingo-oöphorectomy1890
trachelotomy1890
dilatation and curettage1906
vulvectomy1916
tubectomy1925
hymenectomy1931
salpingolysis1937
labiaplasty1964
scrape1968
female genital cutting1996
1996 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 11 Sept. a1 There is no law in Togo that explicitly forbids female genital cutting, referred to here as excision, but the Constitution does insure each individual's physical integrity.
2002 Agenda for People (U.N. Fund for Population Activities) 42 Female genital cutting is no longer kept behind soundproof walls of culture and tradition.
2012 Daily Trust (Abuja) (Nexis) 9 Feb. Nigeria has one of the highest rates of VVF [= vesicovaginal fistula] in the world, a disability that is linked to female genital cutting.
female genital mutilation n. partial or total removal of, or other alteration to, the external genitals of a girl or woman, carried out for non-medical reasons; the practice of performing such procedures; abbreviated FGM.Sometimes offensive.
ΚΠ
1975 R. O. Hayes in Amer. Ethnologist 2 617 (title) Female genital mutilation, fertility control, women's roles, and the patrilineage in modern Sudan.
1992 Ebony May 88/1 She returns to sensitive literary territory, this time taking on some sections of Africa by challenging an ancient and largely unspoken tradition of female genital mutilation called pharaonic circumcision.
2008 J. Byrne in J. Edwins Community Midwifery Pract. viii. 160 Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been illegal in the UK since 1985.
female-headed adj. (a) headed by a female; spec. (in later use) designating a family or household in which a woman is the head or sole provider; (b) that has the head of a female; having a head or mind like a female.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > types of head > [adjective] > having
headedOE
cop-headed1519
small-headedc1540
jolt-headed1552
chuff-headed1563
ass-headed1584
two-headed1596
golden-headed1598
hard-headed1601
big-headed1614
bicipitous1646
buffle-headed1654
female-headed1655
heavy-headed1684
bullet-headed1699
jolter-headed1748
pinheaded1771
pigheaded1774
thin-headed1804
roundhead1842
bulbous-headed1860
blob-headed1865
occipital1873
fat-headed1883
mesopic1885
peanut-headed1906
dome-headed1910
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinship group > family > [adjective] > relating to a family or household > matriarchal
female-headed1655
matriarchal1841
matricentric1945
matrifocal1952
matral1956
matricentred1956
1655 J. Sergeant Schism Dis-arm'd 234 Nothing is more abominable to her [sc. The Church of England] than..Tradition. This appeares by the sixth Article..of Queen Elizabeth's female-headed General Council.
1834 J. A. St. John Egypt & Mohammed Ali I. xviii. 452 A moon-mitred statue of Isis, with female-headed columns on either side.
1857 H. M. G. Smythies Married for Love I. v. 75 The..lace-cravatted, female-headed, loose-coated, lisping..young men of the present day.
1926 Sioux City (Iowa) Sunday Jrnl. 18 Apr. 11/1 A..Persian design of female headed serpents.
1971 F. F. Piven & R. A. Cloward Regulating Poor (1972) v. 157 The New York City Community Council reports..that in a sample of impoverished female-headed families, only 12 per cent had received assistance.
2006 O. Grabar Islamic Visual Culture 11 One full animal, probably a variety of the female-headed monster, occurs there too.
2010 Washington Times (Nexis) 17 Dec. b1 The phenomenal increase in the number of single-parent, female-headed households.
female impersonation n. the action of a male entertainer or actor dressing as and mimicking a woman for a performance, which typically features singing; an instance of this; (also) a performance by a male actor in a female role.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > variety, etc. > [noun] > impersonation
female impersonation1857
impression1953
1857 Calcutta Rev. Mar. 14 They pitch their voices in an unseemly manner—still they accomplish most of the requirements for female impersonation..as is required for a broad farce.
1868 Era 9 Aug. 14/2 He..gave a second female impersonation, when he appeared like a good-looking, though corpulent lady-vocalist..singing ‘If you have a pretty foot, show it’.
1920 R. Hughes Momma viii. 231 They all expected another burlesque of female impersonation and wondered what runt among them dared to imitate the immortal Cissy.
1967 Listener 5 Jan. 35/2 McKern's unexpected female impersonation as the Duchess.
2008 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 26 Dec. c12 Not for these divas the punk-inflected stylings you find on the cutting edge of the drag scene. This is female impersonation of the old school.
female impersonator n. a male entertainer who dresses as a woman for his act, and typically performs songs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [noun] > wearing clothes associated with opposite sex > person
berdache1806
hijra1838
she-male1842
female impersonator1857
transvestite1911
Eonist1928
transvestist1928
transvestitist1930
drag queen1941
moffie1960
TV1960
shim1973
cross-dresser1976
tranny1979
1857 Era 10 May 10/4 T. Halfpenny (a female impersonator for the last twenty years) is to get a benefit.
1907 M. E. Donoghue Log H.M.S. ‘Crescent’ 1904–7 26 Feb. xxi. 199 Next came Private Davis, our female impersonator, in a new song, ‘The Old Harpist’, which was much enjoyed.
1992 Atlanta Jrnl. & Constit. (Nexis) 26 Mar. d3 The bald-headed female impersonator in the flowing white dress was seen chasing his wig..across the lawn near the Washington Monument.
female–male n. and adj. †(a) n. a person combining female and male characteristics; a hermaphrodite (obsolete); (b) adj. that combines female and male properties or characteristics; (also of a relationship, etc.) occurring between women and men.
ΚΠ
1621 J. Taylor Superbiæ Flagellum C6 The Woman-man, Man-woman, chuse you whether, The Female-male, Male-female, both, yet neither.
1804 W. Blake Milton (1808) i. 17 The Female-male & the Male-female,..stood Before him in their beauty.
1919 Times 20 Mar. 7/5 The existence since the war of what he called ‘female-male garments’.
1962 Berkeley Jrnl. Sociol. 7 44 She recognizes the element of prostitution implicit in many female-male relationships.
1976 Case Stud. Human Rights & Fund. Freedoms 4 334 The study of one occupation, the cocktail waitress, suggests a set of unspoken everyday rules about female-male interaction.
2005 R. D. Guthrie Nature Paleolithic Art vi. 364/1 I suspect this little..female-male [Paleolithic] figure was fantasized.
female-only adj. designating an event, place, etc., restricted to women and girls; = women-only adj. at woman n. Compounds 4c.
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1970 V. K. Oppenheimer Female Labor Force in U.S. iii. 120 If employers adapt themselves to such a labor supply so that the job in question acquires a ‘female only’ label, then the demand is not just for cheap labor but for cheap female labor.
1984 E. Fennema in D. M. Campbell & J. C. Higgins Mathematics III. iv. 218/1 Many people are advocating that female-only classes will result in equity in mathematics education.
2011 Canberra Times (Nexis) 10 July a16 Accommodation comes in the form of teepees, dorms, female-only rooms and private rooms.
female pattern baldness n. a form of pattern baldness occurring mainly in women, typically characterized by a general thinning of the hair over the crown and temples rather than by areas of total hair loss; cf. pattern baldness n. at pattern n. and adj. Compounds 2.
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1963 Jrnl. Soc. Cosmetic Chemists 14 143 By far the major number of alopecia cases are those of male and female pattern baldness, and for treatment of those, little can be done.
2002 J. E. Spear Haircutting for Dummies xviii. 279 Female pattern baldness..—also called androgenetic alopecia—is a devastating condition that affects one out of every four females past the age of 35.
female personator n. = female impersonator n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > variety, etc. > performers in variety, etc. > [noun] > impersonator
mime1760
mimic1791
female personator1852
male impersonator1876
impressionist1964
1852 Daily Morning News (Savannah, Georgia) 22 Nov. (advt.) The distinguished Dancer and Female Personator, Master Floyd.
1915 Waterloo (Iowa) Evening Courier & Reporter 9 Feb. 6/5 The..store..was packed to the limit..when Leon Finch, the great female personator, was scheduled to appear. His makeup was stunning.
2008 Play Mag. (Austral.) (Nexis) 8 May 21 Simon Cabaret... features 120 female personators in a fabulously costumed song-and-dance performance.
female pill n. (a) a medicinal preparation intended specifically for the use of women, either to treat menstrual or other disorders, or as an abortifacient (usually in plural; now chiefly historical); (b) a contraceptive pill for women (contrasted with male pill).
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > obstetric drug > [noun] > abortive drug
abortive1647
amblotic1706
female pillc1743
abortifacient1857
c1743 (broadsheet) Dr. John Hooper's female pills.
1847 Lancet 20 Mar. 316/2 The author of this infamous bill is the proprietor of sundry nostrums in the shape of worm balsams, royal antiscorbutic drops, female pills, drops for young or old age..and cures for itch, &c.
1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 27/1 Female Pills... If the very complete directions..will be followed closely, all will be well... With useful information and instructions to ladies concerning their troubles.
1905 Lancet 18 Nov. 1497/1 Madame Hipolite's world-renowned Female Pills, the safest and surest.
1971 New Scientist 4 Feb. 227/1 The new male pill is simply a combination of mesterelone with some orally active progestagen (also found in a female pill).
1998 C. Mims When we Die (1999) iii. 64 The poor had to rely on unofficial practitioners [of abortion] like Dickens's Mrs Gamp, or on Widow Welch's Female Pills, lead plaster, nutmeg, the gin and gunpowder remedy, and other quack ‘remedies.’
2002 Indiana (Pa.) Gaz. 26 Nov. 11/2 The UW researchers plan to recruit about 50 men to test a tablet that, like the female pill.., uses hormones to trick the body.
female-specific n. and adj. (a) n. (in form female specific) a remedy for abdominal pains caused by menstruation, and for various other gynaecological ailments (cf. specific n. 1a) (now rare); (b) adj. specifically relating to, connected with, or affecting women.
ΚΠ
1810 Brit. Press 19 Feb. 1/1 (advt.) Dr. Fothergill's female specific, For the Prevention and Care of the Diseases peculiar to the Sex.
1855 R. Edwards Statist. Gazetteer State Virginia 386 (advt.) Female Specific. A remedy for Painful Menstruation, Leucorrhœa or Whites, $1.
1898 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 190 492 This experiment..would..show that the transmission of the female specific characters depended entirely on the nucleus, and not at all on the cytoplasm.
1903 Amer. Med. 27 June 1017/1 There are 9 or 10 pages of advertisements, nearly all of which are ‘medical’. The..principal: Olivene, the great female specific.
1905 Med. Rev. 21 Oct. 347/2 (title of paper) Female specific infection [sc. gonorrhoea]—duty of the family physician.
1984 M. Hunt et al. Women & Enlightenm. 63 The various terms for sellers of newspapers..in the first half of the eighteenth century, all of them non-gender-specific or female-specific.., have given way almost exclusively to the term ‘newspaper men’.
2011 Financial Adviser (Nexis) 7 July Their plans to expand the Independent Women branch developed because of a growing demand for female-specific [financial] advice.
female suffrage n. = women's suffrage n. at woman n. Compounds 5.
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society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > of women
female suffrage1803
womanhood suffrage1843
woman suffrage1846
women suffrage1846
women's suffrage1868
1803 Jrnl. Proc. Legislative-Council State New Jersey 1802 169 Mr. Pennington..presented a bill intituled, ‘An act relative to female suffrage’, which bill was read and ordered a second hearing.
1871 S. Sterne & T. Hare On Representative Govt. & Personal Representation vi. 177 The female suffrage movement..will sink the standard of political intelligence by admitting to political..power, a class of persons who..would, for generations to come, wield that power ignorantly.
1918 Times 16 Dec. 9/2 Cynics about female suffrage there may still be, but Saturday showed that women realize to the full their new position in the State.
2000 D. Reynolds One World Divisible (2001) 308 New Zealand was the first country to concede full female suffrage, in 1893.
female troubles n. euphemistic ailments that afflict women; spec. gynaecological ailments; = women's troubles n. at woman n. Compounds 5; also in singular.
ΚΠ
1850 H. Cleaver Let. 10 Feb. in S. S. Fitch Six Disc. Functions of Lungs (1852) 279 I..had vast pain in my back, bearing down and terrible female troubles.
1872 Med. Rec. 7 308/2 She has at present some female trouble, but what I cannot learn, further than that there is a profuse leucorrhoea.
1879 Daily News 12 Feb. (advt.) In all female troubles and weakness I have never known them [sc. Brandreth's Pills] to fail.
1922 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 15 Apr. 1155/1 She consulted a physician, and he testified that she was afflicted and suffering with vaginitis and general female trouble.
2007 R. Gibson I'm in No Mood for Love 315 She'd alluded to ‘female troubles’, and he'd practically knocked over the table in his haste to get away from her.
female weakness n. euphemistic (now historical) (frequently in plural) any of various ailments (esp. gynaecological ones) that afflict women; spec. (in singular) leucorrhoea; cf. women's troubles n. at woman n. Compounds 5.
ΚΠ
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Clary It is very pleasant, and in great Esteem amongst the good Women against Abortion, the Whites, and other Female Weaknesses.
1777 J. Leake Med. Instr. Dis. Women ii. 95 The Fluor Albus, female weakness, or whites, as commonly called, is a disease of the womb and its contiguous parts.
1816 Leeds Mercury 24 Feb. (advt.) Strengthening pills... For Nervous Complaints..and Female Weaknesses of every description; barrenness, and a bearing down from difficult labours..; pain in the breast, [etc.].
1873 W. W. Hall Health at Home viii. 582 Leucorrhœa, whites, Female weakness..is a discharge caused by falling of the womb.
1905 Jrnl. Michigan State Med. Soc. 3 395/2 There are people who peddle suppositories for female weaknesses..[which] contain a large quantity of morphine.
1940 D. L. Cohn Good Old Days viii. 216 A favorite fake medicine was one that purported to cure ‘female weakness’.
1997 R. Porter Greatest Benefit to Mankind (1999) 389 Originally marketed as a cure for ‘female weaknesses’, it was soon being proclaimed as ‘the greatest remedy in the world’.
C2. Compounds of the adjective.
a.
(a) Used with reference to a woman in an occupation or office which is usually considered predominantly or traditionally male, as female doctor, female policeman, female priest, female prime minister, female soldier, etc.
ΚΠ
1598 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. vi. ii. 101 But had he heard the Female Fathers grone, Yeaning in mids of her procession.
1621 J. Taylor Superbiæ Flagellum sig. C6 Female Souldiors.
1693 T. D'Urfey Richmond Heiress iii. iii. 30 To take a Recipe from a Female Physitian, to cure a defect in the Brain, that's a good one Faith.
1733 J. Bramston Man of Taste 17 Of Graduates I dislike the learned rout, And chuse a female Doctor for the gout.
1784 New Ann. Reg. 1783 Foreign Lit. 296/1 The death of..the famous female professor, Laura Baffi.
1846 Almanack of Month 2 311 Why should we not have a female prime minister?
1864 Portrait Monthly Mar. 134/2 (heading) A Female Military Policeman. A handsome young lady..said to be a member of the secret army police.
1887 Chronicle 24 Feb. 94/2 The latest phenomenon is the female fireman.
1889 Lend Hand Feb. 128 She is simply and only a female policeman, with special and peculiar duties.
1916 J. Morse In Russ. Ranks vi. 68 I saw some of these female soldiers... Most of them had the appearance of big, lanky raw-boned boys.
1967 Times 15 Feb. 9/1 Female priests..would be more disruptive than any heresy or moral deviation.
1989 N.Y. Mag. 6 Nov. 118/2 Women resent the first female prime minister for posing as an example of feminism but doing nothing to help the hard-pressed of her own sex.
2003 Daily Tel. 14 May 20/1 According to the International Sumo Federation,..female wrestlers are now represented in 17 countries.
(b) Modifying a properly or traditionally male designation (with reference to women in these roles), as female bachelor, female husband, female misogynist, etc., or conditions, as female bachelorhood, etc.
ΚΠ
1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 243. 1/2 I left the Apartment of this Female Rake, and went into her Neighbours, where there lay a Male-Coquet.
1746 H. Fielding (title) The female husband; or, the surprizing history of Mrs Mary, alias Mr George Hamilton, convicted for marrying a young woman.
1815 J. Corry Satirical View of London 187 The system of our male and female misogynists is daily obtaining new proselytes!
1853 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 12 Mar. 168/1 A real bona-fide offer of marriage,..seldom visiting even the dreams of these ‘female bachelors’, as they call themselves.
1890 Lit. World 3 Oct. 264/1 To-day young ladies of twenty-eight are still..enjoying the liberties of ‘female bachelorhood’.
1904 E. Demidoff Shooting Trip to Kamchatka iii. 75 The family, consisting of a female husband,..her wife and children from the ‘spare husband’, lived together in perfect harmony!
1989 Toronto Star (Nexis) 1 Apr. f1 [She] has been described by one critic as ‘a female misogynist masquerading as a political crusader’.
2006 E. Liggins G. Gissing, Working Woman, & Urban Culture v. 141 The female bachelors of the 1890s, with their full and independent lives, were both threatening and threatened.
b.
female cadence n. Music = feminine cadence n. at feminine adj. and n. Compounds 1.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > section of piece of music > [noun] > ending > cadence > types of
passing close1597
perfect cadence1636
inganno1753
interrupted cadence1801
plagal cadence1836
false cadence1888
female close1928
female cadence1930
1897 Music 12 19 Measure binary, without preliminary up-beat, final cadence female, a soft dwelling which avoids abruptly arresting the rhythm 'ambitus' restricted to six notes, or almost to three.]
1930 Strad 41 26/2 The third eight bar sentence ends in a female cadence in G major.
1991 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 24 July e3 On hearing the melting effect of the so-called female cadences, the ending note dropping off just as in speech inflection, the carryover from the human voice to keyboard is perfectly clear.
female close n. Music rare = female cadence n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > section of piece of music > [noun] > ending > cadence > types of
passing close1597
perfect cadence1636
inganno1753
interrupted cadence1801
plagal cadence1836
false cadence1888
female close1928
female cadence1930
1928 E. Blom Limitations Mus. 85 Mendelssohn uses female closes to excess.
female condom n. a contraceptive sheath worn inside the vagina.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > contraception > [noun] > devices or methods
sponge1823
French tickler1905
Gräfenberg ring1930
male condom1938
skin1956
Johnny1963
internal condom1969
female condom1982
contragestive1987
Femidom1989
1982 R. Goldman & J. Goldman Children's Sexual Thinking xiii. 276 ‘You have vasectomies,’ says an English 13-year-old, ‘cut the fallopian tubes. Or use male or female condoms. Some people are naturally sterile.’
1988 Independent 21 Apr. 6/1 The female condom..consists of a polyurethane bag with a thin ring of plastic at the open end.
1993 Chicago Tribune 28 Apr. i. 5/3 The Food and Drug Administration moved closer Tuesday to approving the first female condom for sale in the U.S., saying the device offers limited protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
2010 M. Jones Win Win viii. 41 She also was putting in an order for body glitter cream and a couple of female condoms.
female ending n. (a) Grammar a feminine suffix or termination of a word (see feminine adj. 1a); (b) Prosody and Music an unaccented final syllable or note of a verse, phrase, rhythm, etc.; = feminine ending at feminine adj. 1b.
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1727 J. T. Philipps Compend. Way teaching Antient & Mod. Lang. 224 If I would say a good Mare, I must say bona Equa, which is the Female Ending.
1874 Trans. New Shakspere Soc. 1 53 They [sc. rhythms] are distinguished..[by the] number of double or female endings; these are more numerous in Fletcher than in any other writer in the language.
1887 U.S. Catholic Hist. Mag. 1 101 Bishibishikwe, ‘Bright Lynx’, with the female ending ‘kwe’.
1918 E. G. Lawrence Sidelights on Shakespeare vii. 153 The double ending is also known as the female ending.
1947 Music Rev. 8 261 Nowhere else..is the female ending with its suspension so much in evidence as in Songs without Words.
2006 Feminist Stud. (Nexis) Sept. 491 (note) Weslager thought Notike a man even though the name Notike carries the typically female ending -ke.
female eunuch n. (in and with reference to the writing of Germaine Greer) the type of a woman considered in terms of the repression of her sexuality and personality in a male-dominated society; (also) a woman of this type.
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1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 68 It is exactly the element of quest in her sexuality that the female is taught to deny.., so that when she becomes aware of her sex the pattern has sufficient force of inertia to prevail over new forms of desire and curiosity. This is the condition which is meant by the term female eunuch.
1976 Mother Jones Dec. 27/1 We are now in the process of changing our image from that of the ‘Female Eunuch’ to the ‘Phallic Woman’.
1987 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 3 Dec. 12 If Germaine Greer had time..to glance through the Sydney papers she would have realised that the female eunuch is alive and well and living inside the glossy advertisement pages.
2010 D. Phothgarde Caribbean Cruise viii. 103 Should she become too friendly with any of the male sex, her feminist fanaticism might subside and she would degenerate into a female eunuch.
female fern n. [compare post-classical Latin filix femina : see lady fern n. at lady n. Compounds 2c] (a) the common bracken, Pteridium aquilinum (now historical); (b) = lady fern n. at lady n. Compounds 2c.
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the world > plants > particular plants > ferns > [noun] > other ferns
mountain parsley1578
female fern1597
rock parsley1597
spleenwort1597
marsh fern1686
prickly fern1764
parsley fern1777
sensitive fern1780
lady fern1783
stone-brake1796
mountain fern1800
rock brake1802
walking leaf1811
todea1813
shield-fern1814
Woodsia1815
mangemange1817
cinnamon fern1818
climbing fern1818
bladder-fern1828
king fern1829
filmy fern1830
ostrich fern1833
New York fern1843
mokimoki1844
rhizocarp1852
film-fern1855
nardoo1860
gymnogram1861
holly-fern1861
limestone-polypody1861
elk-horn1865
Gleichenia1865
lizard's herb1866
cliff brake1867
kidney fern1867
Christmas fern1873
Prince of Wales feathers1873
Christmas shield fern1878
buckler-fern1882
crape-fern1882
stag-horn1882
ladder fern1884
oleander fern1884
stag fern1884
resam1889
lip-fern1890
coral-fern1898
bamboo fern1930
pteroid1949
fern-gale-
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iii. lx. 400 Two kindes of Fernes..the male and female.]
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 969 Filix fœmina. Female Ferne or brakes.
1728 R. Bradley Dict. Botanicum at Filix The sharp pointed Female Fern hath the mains Stalks about a Foot long.
1857 Fraser’s Mag. Mar. 351/2 By some botanists the common bracken has been designated the female fern, from the graceful feathering of its fronds; but the lady fern certainly excels it in beauty of form.
1903 Gardener’s Chron. 1 Aug. 69/1 The true female Fern of all the old authorities was the common Bracken, Pteris aquilina.
1995 Independent on Sunday 9 Apr. (Review Suppl.) 81/3 We've just planted a miniature Victorian stumpery of male ferns (Dryopteris filix-mas) and female ferns (Athyrium filix-foemina).
female hemp n. (a) the male of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, popularly so called because it is less vigorous than the female; = fimble hemp at fimble n.1 1 (now historical); (b) the female of the hemp plant (see quots. 1753, 1997).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > yielding fibre, thatching, or basket material > [noun] > hemp plant > female
carl hemp?1523
female hemp1753
?c1450Femaille hempe [see sense B. 8].
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xlixv Thy femell hempe must be pulled from the churle hempe: for that bereth no sede... The churle hempe doth bere sede..the hempe therof is nat so good as the femell hempe.
1625 Edinb. Test. LIII. f. 114, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Female Sex scheives of femill hempt.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Hemp The remaining plants, which are the female Hemp, called by the farmer Karle-hemp, are to be left till Michaelmas.
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. The carl or male hemp was used for ropes, sackcloth, and other coarse manufactures; the fimble, or female hemp, was applied to..domestic purposes.
1902 W. I. Hannan Textile Fibres Commerce 22 Fig. 12 shows a mature female hemp plant. The fruit and seeds are borne in the axils of the cauline leaves.
1997 T. La Farge et al. in R. M. Rowell et al. Paper & Composites from Agro-based Resources iii. 49 In dioecious forms of hemp..the male hemp ripens 1 to 1½ months earlier than female hemp.
female pimpernel n. see pimpernel n. 2a.
female rhyme n. Prosody = feminine rhyme n. at feminine adj. and n. Compounds 1; cf. male rhyme n. at male adj. and n.1 Compounds 1c.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > rhyme > [noun] > feminine rhyme
feminine rhyme1578
female rhymea1586
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. L2v Ryme..in the last silable, by the French named the Masculine ryme..in the next to the last, which the French call the Female.
1667 J. Dryden Let. to Sir R. Howard in Annus Mirabilis 1666 Pref. The Female Rhymes..are still in use amongst other Nations.
1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric II. xlvi. 514 A reflection on the toil which he [sc. a poet] endured in his closet, from assorting male and female Rhymes.
1871 Acad. & Lit. 1 Nov. 490/2 If I rhyme dare with mare, that is a male rhyme; and when I rhyme dairy with Mary, this is a female rhyme.
1905 R. Bell Poet. Wks. Chaucer (rev. ed.) I. Introd. 55 Every syllable of words of French extraction..must be pronounced, and the accent laid on the last syllable. This is the origin of what has been called by modern metrists the female rhyme.
2006 Yearbk. Eng. Stud. 36 31 The rhymes in the octave are alternating male and female rhymes.
c. In sense B. 11.
female gauge n. now rare (a) a notch or slot designed to receive a projection or peg and so control the position of a mechanism; (b) a gauge designed to fit around the exterior of an object whose size is to be tested or measured (cf. collar gauge n. at collar n. Compounds 2).
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1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 170 Then he lays the upper half of the Mold upon the under half, so as the Male-Gages may fall into the Female-Gages.
1765 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. II. at Foundery These two parts are exactly fitted into each other, being a male and female gage, to slide backwards and forwards.
1892 J. Rose Mod. Machine-Shop Pract. (ed. 2) I. 356/1 If the work is sufficiently near to size, the plug or male gauge may be forced in, or the collar or female gauge may be forced on, and in this case the tightness of fit would indicate that the work was very near to standard size.
1962 New Phytologist 61 75 The rhizome diameter was taken using a female gauge.
female screw n. a piece of metal or other material containing a cylindrical cavity with a raised helical thread running round the interior surface, designed to take a male screw or bolt with a corresponding thread on the outside; cf. sense B. 11.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > screw > other types of screw
wrench1552
needle screw1663
female screw1667
stop-screw1680
male screw1682
wood-screw1733
right and left handed screw1738
screw eye1787
claw-screw1795
screw shaft1818
union joint1819
union screw1820
right-and-left screw1821
binding-screw1828
coach screw1874
lag bolt1893
grub-screw1903
Allen screw1910
multithread1921
self-tapper1949
1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xvi. vii. 599 Now the screw-rod or male-screw runnes into the female by the twining about of the handle.]
1667 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 2 542 In this Figure (a a a a) is a small oblong brass Box, serving both to contain the Screws, and its Sockets or Female Screws.
1732 S. Fuller Pract. Astron. 154 In the Back..is a Female Screw to receive a Handle, whenever the Metal is to be moved, in order to avoid sullying its polish'd Surface by handling.
1839 G. Bird Elements Nat. Philos. 72 The female screw..must be of such a size as to admit the projecting thread of the..male screw.
1954 H. J. J. Braddick Physics Exper. Method 110 A thin film of soft solder used to seal and lock a mechanical joint (e.g. a male and female screw coated with solder and screwed together hot) makes an extremely strong and gastight joint.
2001 W. P. Jones Air Conditioning Engin. (ed. 5) xii. 351 The most common arrangement is for the male rotor to be driven from a two-pole electric motor. The female screw is then driven by the male rotor.
female socket n. a hollow socket that fits around or receives a connector, screw, etc.
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1799 Jrnl. Nat. Philos. May 69 The screw I make use of has eight threads, which are so inclined that it runs through its female socket, and would fall out merely by its own weight.
1858 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 July 551/1 c is of brass—a simple stopcock, with a male and female socket; the female socket receives d with plaster of Paris.
1915 Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Med. Aug. 740/2 Attach the objective holding the male thread into its female socket, rotating in a left hand direction until a click is heard.
1997 J. Owen Camden Girls 117 A room full of miles and miles of electric cables and leads with male and female sockets.
female thread n. the helical thread on the inside of a female screw.
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1822 Brit. Indian Mil. Repos. 1 268 The handles..never coming near the box containing the female thread of the lower screw, except at the extreme elevation of the piece.
1953 K. J. Hume & G. H. Sharp Pract. Metrol. (1965) ii. xx. 100 It should be remembered that the effect is to increase the virtual effective diameter of a male thread and reduce it in a female thread.
2002 R. D. Treloar Plumbing: Heating & Gas Installations (ed. 2) i. 58 It [sc. the globe tap] had a female thread as its point of entry and was used for old baths with a side entry.
Derivatives
ˈfemale-like adj.
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1710 J. Swift Baucis & Philemon (new ed.) 13 Her busy Thoughts are on the Tryal bent, And Female-like, impatient for th' Event.
1825 R. G. Wallace Forty Years in World I. 289 He has a small female-like eye, brows covered with thinly scattered grey hair.
1905 tr. E. Wasmann Compar. Stud. Psychol. Ants iv. 164 Female-like workers, which I have named pseudo-females.
2010 Times (Nexis) 5 Aug. 26 A female-like ability in relocating the positions of objects.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.c1350- laboratory animal
- laboratory apparatus
- laboratory assistant
- laboratory bench
- laboratory chemist
- laboratory chest
- laboratory coat
- laboratory conditions
- laboratory experiment
- laboratory fire
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- laboratory frame of reference
- laboratory machinery
- laboratory man
- laboratory mouse
- laboratory rat
- laboratory school
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- laboratory technician
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- laboratory-bred
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