/ˈwɪmᵻn/, U.S. /ˈwɪmᵻn/;womann.
/ˈwʊmən/, U.S. /ˈwʊmən//ˈwɪmᵻn/, U.S. /ˈwɪmᵻn/;α. Old English uifmonn (Northumbrian), Old English wifmman (perhaps transmission error), Old English wifmonn (Northumbrian), Old English (early Middle English Ormulum) wifmann, Old English–early Middle English (south-west midlands) wifmon, Old English–Middle English wifman, early Middle English vifmon (south-west midlands), Middle English wyfman. eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) iii. vi. 60 Minutia hatte an wifmon þe on heora wisan sceolde nunne beon [L. Minucia uirgo Vestalis].OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xix. 4 Quia qui fecit ab initio masculum et feminam fecit eos : forðon seðe worohte from fruma woepenmonn & wifmonn geworhte hia.OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) ii. 22 God..geworhte ðæt rib, ðe he genam of Adame, to anum wifmen.OE Poenitentiale Pseudo-Egberti (Laud) ii. iv. 17 Gif hwylc wif for hwylcum lyðrum andan hire wifman [L. ancillam] swingeð, & heo þurh þa swingele wurð dead.., fæste seo hlæfdige vii ger.c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 291 Elysabæþ wass an wifmann Off aaroness dohhtress.a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 15 Þa weren strotige laȝe and ȝif þa laȝe weren nu nalde na mon mis-don wið oðre ne wepmon ne wifmon ne meiden.a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily De Initio Creaturae (Vesp. A.xxii) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 223 Þa ȝename he ribb of his sidan and ȝeworhte of þane ribbe ana wifman [OE Cambr. Gg.3.28 ænne wifman].c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 11787 Moni ænne gode wifmon i-whorht to bleðere widewe.c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1963) l. 6804 Nert þou no wifman [c1275 Calig. wimman], so sore to sike.1340 Ayenbite (1866) 31 He..zayþ to þe manne and to þe wyfmanne [etc.].a1350 St. Blaise (Laud) l. 54 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 486 Com aȝeyn & bring þis swyn a-now To þis pore wifman.a1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 99 Als I sat beside I say..A wifman wiþ a wonder whel weue with þe wynde & wond.
β. Old English wimmam (accusative, transmission error), Old English–Middle English wimman, late Old English–Middle English wiman, early Middle English mimmon (transmission error), early Middle English vimmon (south-west midlands), early Middle English wimmann ( Ormulum), early Middle English wimmon (west midlands and south-western), early Middle English wimon (south-west midlands), early Middle English wymam (transmission error), early Middle English wynman (transmission error), Middle English wyman, Middle English wymman, Middle English wymmon (chiefly south-west midlands), late Middle English vymman, 1500s viman (Scottish). OE Ælfric Old Test. Summary: Judges (Laud) iv. 22 in S. J. Crawford Old Eng. Version of Heptateuch (1922) 405 Ða clipode seo wimman cuðlice him to.lOE Sale of Land, Exeter (Exeter 3501) (Dict. Old Eng. transcript) Ðis sinte ða gewitnisse of ðam wiman leduue ialdit and of Ieleire.c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2314 Wif þatt haffde ben Aȝȝ childlæs till þatt time..shollde berenn child Onn ȝæn wimmaness kinde.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 133 Ysaac, þat þe lif holi wimman sarra on hire elde kennede.c1200 ( Latin-Old Eng. Gloss. (Bodl. 730) in Eng. Stud. (1981) 62 207/2 Nepos, neuea. Neptis, þe wiman.?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 53 Þe hwise askið weðer ani þing harmi mare wimmon þenne hire echȝe.a1275 St. Margaret (Trin. Cambr.) l. 14 in A. S. M. Clark Seint Maregrete & Body & Soul (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) (1972) 8 Þe moder was an heþene wif þat hire to wyman bere.c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) l. 1357 Ȝef wimmon [a1300 Jesus Oxf. wymmon] þencheþ luuie derne, Ne mai ich mine songes werne. ▸ c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1156 Þe fayrest wymman under mone.c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 4228 Sorwe made neuer wiman more.a1400 (a1325) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Trin. Cambr.) (1887) App. G. 790 He..lete him & þe wimman..Wende hamward hare wey.a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 42 v Mulierarius, a lyggar by wymman.c1450 (c1415) in W. O. Ross Middle Eng. Serm. (1940) 96 A vymman þat haþ a childe [etc.].1556–7 Crail Burgh Court 25 Feb. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Viduite The viman that..keipis not thair virginity or wiiduit.
γ. Chiefly west midlands and south-western in early use early Middle English vmman, early Middle English wman, early Middle English wmman, early Middle English wmmon, early Middle English wummn (transmission error), early Middle English wummon, early Middle English wumon, Middle English wuiman, Middle English wuman, Middle English wumman; English regional 1700s– wumman; Scottish 1800s– wuman, 1800s– wumman, 1800s– wummin, 1900s– wumin, 1900s– wummun, 1900s– wumon; also Irish English (northern) 1900s– wuman, 1900s– wummin. c1200 Serm. in Eng. & Germanic Stud. (1961) 7 62 He fand þe vmmanne heorte al to hemti of bileue.?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 48 Þis is a swiðe dredful word to wummon þet schaweð hire to wepmones echne.a1250 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 3 Nis no wummon iboren þet ðe beo iliche.a1250 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Titus) (1963) 73 Naueð þat mon oðer wumon mesaise? ▸ c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 281 Þe kinges douther..wex þe fayrest wman on liue.c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 9655 Ȝuf a wuman haþ a sone to clergie idrawe.a1400 Coer de L. 3863 Man, wumman, every Sarasyn.a1450 (c1400) in D. M. Grisdale 3 Middle Eng. Serm. (1939) 69 Seith Arestotel, euery wumman hath it o kynde to loue mor specialiche þe childe þan doth þe vadir.1499 Promptorium Parvulorum (Pynson) sig. svv/2 Wumman.1771 A. Skinn Old Maid (Dublin ed.) I. 177 I have a woundy moind to tak mysel to that yung wumman.1839 A. Bywater Sheffield Dial. 223 Ivvera wumman shall be allow'd to spaik twoice to her husband wonce.1873 J. Spilling Molly Miggs 13 It's no use argifying witha wumman.1894 J. Bathgate Aunt Janet's Legacy 69 Lassie, did ye never see a sandglass? wummin, ye're as ignarint as a peat.a1917 E. C. Smith Braid Haaick (1927) 10 Yince an thon wumman sterts, she hashes an blethers for a guid everlesteen.1969 in Sc. National Dict. (1976) X. at Yirm Did ee ever see sic a wumin? She's aye yirm, yirm, yirmin' on aboot something.1996 S. Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 4 A fantoosh, bleached-blonde wummin.
δ. Chiefly west midlands and south-western in early use early Middle English ȝomman, Middle English womam (transmission error), Middle English wommam (transmission error), Middle English wommand, Middle English wommanne, Middle English wommon, Middle English wouman, Middle English–1500s wommane, Middle English–1600s womman, Middle English–1600s womon, Middle English– woman, late Middle English vomman, late Middle English wamans (genitive, probably transmission error), late Middle English whomman, late Middle English womone, late Middle English woymon, late Middle English–1500s voman, late Middle English–1500s womann, late Middle English–1600s whoman, late Middle English–1600s womane, late Middle English–1600s womanne, late Middle English–1600s wooman, 1500s womend, 1500s–1600s woeman, 1600s women; English regional 1800s– wooman; U.S. regional 1900s– woming; Scottish pre-1700 vomane, pre-1700 woeman, pre-1700 womane, pre-1700 womann, pre-1700 women, pre-1700 womin, pre-1700 womune, pre-1700 wowman, pre-1700 1700s voman, pre-1700 1700s– woman, pre-1700 1800s wooman, pre-1700 1900s– womman, 1800s womun, 1800s womyne; also Irish English (northern) 1800s womun. c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) l. 459 Milce haue ant merci, wommon, of mi wrecchedom.c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1963) l. 1119 Womman [c1275 Calig. wifmon] þou hart hende.a1350 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 259 A knyht..louede þis may par amour..þat wiþ childe wes þat womon.c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) A. viii. l. 74 Þei weddeþ no wommon þat þei with deleþ.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 20285 Quils scho spac þus, þat suet woman,..saint iohan..com.c1450 Ipotis (BL Add.) l. 302 in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. (1916) 31 138 Womon, for þi wikede tysynge, Þou schalte be vndure mannes hest.a1500 in R. H. Robbins Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1952) 181 Womon ys wariat.a1538 A. Abell Roit or Quheill of Tyme f. 43, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) Merlyne..wes borne of ane nobill women of Briton.1575–6 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Royal Burgh of Lanark (1893) 71 Ilk onfre man or wowman in the toun xij d. of stallege.1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 252 An Image in Alablaster of a woman, (for the most part naked) and Thames water prilling from her breasts.1628 in A. J. Warden Dundee Burgh Laws (1872) 526 Any servand..quha is cled with ane womin in marriage.1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 26 Marriage, which is a lawfull copulation of a man and a woman.1685 Brechin Test. VII. f. 127, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) To Agnes Massie, litle woeman, viii lib.1705 C. Cibber Careless Husband ii. i. 13 To be in Love now is only having a Design upon a Woman, a modish way of declaring War against her Virtue.1780 J. Brown Lett. Toleration (1803) 81 No ecclesiastical power can reside in a heathen, a woman, or a child.1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto I lxi. 33 Her stature tall—I hate a dumpy woman.1881 J. Sargisson Joe Scoap's Jurneh 15 Theer was plenty eh room if that yung wooman up in t'corner wad nobbut pruss up a bit.1932 J. M. E. Saxby Shetland Trad. Lore 124 He has been dancing with the ‘mairéd womman’ and the best maid.2009 New Yorker 9 Feb. 81/1 A solitary middle-aged woman..was watering her lawn in hip-hugging Capri jeans.
ε. late Middle English weman, late Middle English wemon, 1600s weeman (North American); Scottish pre-1700 veman, pre-1700 vemene, pre-1700 veyman, pre-1700 veymen, pre-1700 weman, pre-1700 wemane, pre-1700 wemen, pre-1700 weoman. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 478 By þat cry men knaw þan Whether it be man or weman.1470 in J. Fullarton Rec. Burgh Prestwick (1834) 16 That man or wemane,..that is fundin thrise..a fechtar [etc.].c1480 (a1400) St. Theodora 590 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 116 Scho, þat þare was munk..lath ware hyr þat ony man suld wit be pruf scho ware weman.a1500 (?c1450) Bone Florence (1976) l. 369 Wemon hyt dud grete dere.1545 in W. Fraser Douglas Bk. (1885) IV. 155 Man, veymen, and chaylde.1676 Complaint From Heaven in W. H. Browne Arch. Maryland (1887) V. 146 Neither it is not true, at Ritch: Wilton, was not Longe cut off, his wyff with two chilldren and another weeman, both high with child, and two lusty able men.1681 in W. Fraser Red Bk. Menteith (1880) II. 203 My Laidy Graham is a very cuning weoman.
ζ. late Middle English oman, 1500s owman, 1600s o'man (Welsh English), 1600s–1700s uman, 1800s 'ooman, 1800s ooman; English regional 1800s homan (Devon), 1800s humman (Devon), 1800s 'umman, 1800s– hummun (Devon), 1800s– 'oman, 1800s– 'ooman, 1800s– ooman; U.S. regional 1800s– 'oman, 1800s– ooman, 1900s– 'ooman; Scottish 1700s– oman, 1700s– 'oman, 1800s ooman, 1800s– uman, 1900s– owman, 1900s– 'uman, 1900s– umin, 1900s– umman, 1900s– 'umman, 1900s– 'ummin', 1900s– umon. ?c1455 A. Crane in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 339 Youre pore bede oman and cosyn Alicie Crane.1558 T. Charnock Bk. Astron. (MS) (title of chapter) Is the theffe man or owman or bothe?a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. i. 45 Eua. Leaue your prables (o'man)... Eua. O'man, forbeare.1638 T. Nabbes Covent Garden v. ii. 61 Your Ladiships uman.1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xv. x. 280 When her Laship was so veri kind as to offar to mak mee hur one Uman.1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Uman, the pron. of woman.1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xiii. 131 Putting on his spectacles to look at a married 'ooman!1859 W. B. Forfar Pentowan i What'll my poor ould 'umman do?1921 D. H. Edwards Fisher Folks 36 That 'ummin' has raley a grand pipe.1954 Banffshire Jrnl. 24 Aug. Siccan a mairt o' an 'uman it has never been my luck tae see.1990 in Sc. National Dict. New Suppl. (Electronic text) (at cited word) [Aberdeenshire] Man, umman, ye're surely nae wyce!
2. Plural.α. Old English wifmæn (rare), Old English wyfmen (rare), Old English (early Middle English Ormulum) wifmenn, Old English–Middle English wifmen, early Middle English wifmone (south-west midlands), early Middle English wifmonnen (south-west midlands), Middle English wyfmem (transmission error), Middle English wyfmen. OE Descent into Hell 16 Huru þæs oþer þing wiston þa wifmenn, þa hy on weg cyrdon!OE Descent into Hell 48 Heahfædra fela, swylce eac..wifmonna þreat, fela fæmnena, folces unrim.OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Num. (Claud.) xxxi. 15 Moyses..axode hwi hi heoldon ða wifmen to life..& het hi ða acwellan ealle ða wif.c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 15707 Alle samen..Weppmenn & wifmenn baþe.a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 47 To alle eorðe þrelles, wepmen and wifmen.c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 5904 Folc of ælche cræfte sundri scipen bi-tæhte & mong þan wifmonnen wepmon næuer enne.c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) l. 5020 Þorh þe ilke wifmen þat þare wonede longe, þat folk gan to vsi Yrlondes speche.1340 Ayenbite (1866) 10 To habbe uelaȝrede ulesslich mid wyfmen.a1350 St. Blaise (Laud) l. 99 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 487 Þes wifmen nomen þese maumettes..& casten hem into þe depe water.
β. Old English winmen (transmission error), Old English early Middle English wimmenn ( Ormulum), Old English–1500s wimmen, early Middle English vimmen, early Middle English wimmannen, early Middle English wimmem (transmission error), early Middle English wimmomnen (south-west midlands, transmission error), early Middle English wimmonne (south-west midlands), early Middle English wimmonnen (south-west midlands), early Middle English winm (transmission error), early Middle English wymmanne, Middle English wymmene, Middle English–1600s wimen, Middle English–1600s wymmen, Middle English–1600s (1700s archaic) wymen, late Middle English vymmen, late Middle English wyme (transmission error), 1500s wymyn; English regional (Westmorland) 1700s wimmen; U.S. regional 1800s– wimmen, 1900s– wimmern; Scottish pre-1700 wymmen, pre-1700 1700s 1900s– wimen, 1800s– wimmen; also Irish English (northern) 1900s– wimmen; see also wimmin n., womyn n.OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) iii. iii. 162 Mid þyses halgan mannes bysenum wæron getrymede..gehwilce æfeste ge wæpnedmen ge wimmen.?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1137 Þa namen hi þa men þe hi wenden ðat ani god hefden.., carlmen & wimmen, & diden heom in prisun.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 215 Ȝif he [sc. a cleric] wliteð mid stefne for to liken wimmannen.., þenne beð he laht forto leden to helle.c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 172 Þa wepmen weren iwexan; þa wimen wel iþowene.c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) l. 67 Of alle wymmanne [v.r. wimmenne] Wurst was godhild þanne.c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 2753 Ofte in wimmen [v.rr. wimmane, wommannes, wommanys, wommens] fourme hii comeþ to men al so.1340 Ayenbite (1866) 231 Hi yede muzi uor bysihede uor to ysy þe wymen of þe contraye.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Coll. Phys.) l. 24644 Wit oþir wimen þat him soht.c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn l. 1115 So excellent of bewte þat she myȝt be shryne To all othir vymmen.c1500 God spede Plough (Lansd.) l. 87 in W. W. Skeat Pierce Ploughman's Crede (1873) 72 Wymen commeth weping on the same Maner.c1520 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1903) II. Luke xxiii. 29 Wymmen.1638 Earl of Wemyss in J. G. Fyfe Sc. Diaries & Mem. (1928) 122 The good religius wimen did rise up..and flang..ther stoulles.1683 E. Coxere Mem. in B. Cusack Everyday Eng. 1500–1700 (1998) 274 At Last I sae a boate Com a bord with two wimen Rakend to be hoors.1745 in J. Stuart Misc. Spalding Club (1841) I. 414 Widow wimen that hase tacks in my intrest.1790 A. Wheeler Westmorland Dial. 60 What is cum amang Wimmen an Lasses E this Parish?1887 G. G. Green Gordonhaven 79 Fu widna wimmen pray as weel's men?1922 H. L. Burnette Sons of Elohim 216 Ev'ry human feller—an' wimmen, too.?1992 J. Maley & W. Maley From Calton to Catalonia 1 Wimmen windaehingin.
γ. Chiefly west midlands and south-western in early use early Middle English wmmen, early Middle English wmmone, early Middle English wummannen, early Middle English wummem (transmission error), Middle English wummen; Scottish 1900s– wummen, 1900s– wummin; also Irish English (northern) 1900s– wummen. c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 188 He cheas hire bimong alle wummen forte beon his moder.a1250 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 3 Þu ert briht & blisful ouer alle wummen.a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 9 Nou þu moostes, lauedi, lere wmmone wo, þat barnes bere.c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 5987 Seoððen þis world wes astald..ne com nauere wurse hap to nane wummannen.c1300 St. Patrick's Purgatory (Laud) l. 199 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 205 Of men and of wummen þis feld was ful.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 23451 Man [has] gret liking..On wummen fair for to bihald.1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) l. 4291 Wyth comoun wummen þou shalt abusyd be.?a1475 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Harl. 6579) i. ix. f. 6 Þis partie of contemplacion God giues..to lerid and to lewid, men and wummen occuped in prelacie, and to solitarie also.1997 L. Niven Past Presents 17 Twa wummin, young an auld.2003 J. B. Corbett Stalking Cure in Sc. Corpus Texts & Speech Gear is tae be held bi men—or wummen—that haes borne the gree agin challengers an sae won the privilege o property.
δ. Chiefly west midlands and south-western in early use early Middle English womman, early Middle English wommanne, early Middle English wommone, Middle English–1600s wommen, Middle English– women, late Middle English vommen, late Middle English whommen, late Middle English womene, late Middle English womenn, late Middle English womme (transmission error), late Middle English wommene, late Middle English woymen, late Middle English (in a late copy) 1500s–1600s woomen, late Middle English–1500s whomen, 1500s vomen, 1500s womenne, 1500s–1700s woemen; U.S. regional 1900s– womern; Scottish pre-1700 vomen, pre-1700 woemen, pre-1700 womene, pre-1700 wommen, pre-1700 1700s woomen, pre-1700 1700s– women. a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 9 I þat blisful bearnes buirde wrong w[e]s wroht to wommone wirde.c1300 Ministry & Passion of Christ (Laud) (1873) l. 1585 Gret deol for him makeden þanne Men and children and eke wommanne.c1300 St. Christopher (Laud) l. 176 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 276 Þe wommen Answereden to his Axingue.a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) vii. 39 Þat is iseid for women holdinde in dowere, ant tenauns þoru lawe of Yngelonde.c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §91 Of alle women good woman foond I neuere.a1450 Dis. Women (Douce) in Proc. Royal Soc. Med. (1916) 9 37 Whomen ben more febull and colde be nature þan men.c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 662 Here gynneth a Dyte of Womenhis Hornys.a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 22 All good men and woymen.?1553 Respublica (1952) v. v. 50 Men shoulde kysse woomen.1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 290 Woemen quha had vowet chastitie.1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iii. 340 Huldah's colledge... Perchance a female foundation of women alone, and she the Presidentress thereof.1671 in H. Paton Kingarth Parish Rec. (1932) 69 Young woomen..drinking in ale houses.1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 128. ¶1 Women in their Nature are much more gay and joyous than Men.1795 J. Farington Diary 25 Nov. (1923) I. xxxiii. 112 Abt. 40 persons were executed, most of them woemen; and some girls.1831 T. Carlyle Let. 17 Aug. in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (1976) V. 338 Two women literally crashing hoarse thunder out of a piano.1897 Westm. Gaz. 25 June 10/1 You won't get efficient motherhood from these hipless, rushing women.1948 L. C. Martin & M. Hynes Clin. Endocrinol. viii. 185 The general symptoms of the menopause are well marked in over 50 per cent of women.2009 Sunday Life (Nexis) Feb. 12 Surveys show that women in their 40s are having the best sex of their lives.
ε. Middle English wemmen, Middle English–1700s wemen, late Middle English wemmene, late Middle English wemyn, late Middle English weymen, late Middle English whemen, late Middle English–1600s weomen, 1500s vemen, 1500s–1600s weemen, 1600s weamen; Scottish pre-1700 ueimen, pre-1700 uemen, pre-1700 vemen, pre-1700 vemene, pre-1700 weamen, pre-1700 wemane, pre-1700 wemeine, pre-1700 wemeinne, pre-1700 wemene, pre-1700 wemenn, pre-1700 wemenne, pre-1700 weomen, pre-1700 weyman, pre-1700 weymen, pre-1700 1700s weman, pre-1700 1700s– weemen, pre-1700 1800s wemen, pre-1700 1900s– weeman, pre-1700 1900s– weimen, 1800s wemyng, 1800s– weemin, 1900s– weemun; also Irish English (northern) 1800s– weemen. 1372 in E. Wilson Descriptive Index Lyrics John of Grimestone's Preaching Bk. (1973) 21 Quil men and wemmen woniȝen togidere þe fendes brond sone comet þidere.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 8583 (heading) How ij. wemmen ware iugged for a childe þe tane slogh in hir bedde.c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) l. 13247 Enmys sall on þe fall and defoule þe before þi wyfes and wemen all.c1480 (a1400) St. Thomas Apostle l. 436 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 141 Þare ware baptiste but a-bad a-lefyne thousand of men, foroute barnys ore weman.1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iii. 734 Men mycht her wemen hely cry.1503–4 in H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church (1905) 252 For the makkyng of the nev vemens pevys.a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 288 Most excellent princes of weymen mortall.c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 10904 The wemyn..welt hom to ground with swappis of hor swordes.?1553 Respublica (1952) v. v. 50 Thei bee weemen and perchaunce maye bee faced owte.a1605 R. Bannatyne Jrnl. Trans. in Scotl. (1806) 393 Not onlie men, but weeman and childrene.1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 168 The French Liberty of the Weomen makes the Italians judge them without shame.1641 (title) The petition of the weamen of Middlesex.a1699 A. Halkett Autobiogr. (1875) 22 I dresed him in the wemen's habitt that was prepared, wch fitted his Highnese very well.1730 in H. Paton Minnigaff Parish Rec. (1939) 537 Weman.1812 Scotchman 60 The weemen are, owther by natour, edocation, or custom, maist sikerly steekit.1898 J. MacManus Bend of Road 8 The weemen parties an' others persuaded him from it.1912 in A. W. Johnston & A. Johnston Old-lore Misc. V. ii. 70 Hid was his gonfer, for when he met dem dere was juist de twa weeman.1991 J. R. Grant in T. Hubbard New Makars 56 Waukin in Paris the-day the weemin are bloody.
ζ. 1600s ymen (apparently only in representations of Welsh English), 1900s– 'emen (U.S. regional (in African-American usage)). c1630 T. Dekker et al. Welsh Embassador (1920) iv. 47 Our valliant Comragues..so fright the ymen that [etc.].c1937 E. Pollard Interview in C. L. Perdue et al. Weevils in Wheat (1976) 231 Dey ain' go 'bout burnin' up dey hair God give 'em, like de gals en ole 'emen does dis here times.
η. Chiefly U.S. regional 1600s omens (Welsh English), 1700s– womens, 1800s– wimmins, 1900s– wimmens. 1643 True Copy Welch Serm. Thomason Tracts C. No. 3. A2v Her doe thus ungratefully require poore England, to kill her men and omens, her fathers and her mothers.1704 in W. L. Stone Hist. N.Y. City (1872) ii. ii. 126 Their fingers hoop't with rings, some with large stones in them of many Coullers,..which You should see very old womens wear as well as Young.1839 ‘D. I. Moriarty’ Husband-hunter II. iii. 92 I do know womens! I do know dem well—heiligkeit!1843 J. H. Ingraham Fanny H— ii. 6 I'se never guv up to de wimmins, 'special' when dey persume to inwade my independum rights and sacriligious privileges.1890 K. Chopin At Fault (2002) ii. xv. 157 You womens is alluz runnin' back'ards and for'ards like skeard rabbit in de co'n fiel.1928 C. McKay Home to Harlem vi. 56 Jake is such a fool spade. Don't know how to handle the womens.1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Apr. (Comic section) Sometime I think wimmens is the strongest gender.1975 T. Callender It so Happen 116 When one o' the womens 'bout this place fix up a man, he don't get unfix, I telling you.
I. Senses referring to an adult female human being.
1.
a. An adult female human being. The counterpart of man (see man n.1 4.).With prefixed nouns or adjectives denoting nationality, status, occupation, or character, forming established compounds, many corresponding to those of man (see man n.1 15), as business woman, career woman, countrywoman, Englishwoman, horsewoman, man-woman, needlewoman, sportswoman, townswoman, wise woman, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΠ
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
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) iii. vi. 60 Minutia hatte an wifmon þe on heora wisan sceolde nunne beon [L. Minucia uirgo Vestalis].
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) iii. iii. 162 Mid þyses halgan mannes bysenum wæron getrymede..gehwilce æfeste ge wæpnedmen ge wimmen.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) ii. 22 God..geworhte ðæt rib, ðe he genam of Adame, to anum wifmen.
?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1137 Þa namen hi þa men þe hi wenden ðat ani god hefden.., carlmen & wimmen, & diden heom in prisun.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 133 Ysaac, þat þe lif holi wimman sarra on hire elde kennede.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 48 Þis is a swiðe dredful word to wummon þet schaweð hire to wepmones echne.
a1250 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 3 (MED) Nis no wummon iboren þet ðe beo iliche.
a1350 St. Blaise (Laud) l. 99 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 487 Com aȝeyn & bring þis swyn a-now To þis pore wifman.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. viii. l. 74 Þei weddeþ no wommon þat þei with deleþ.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 95 Amazoyne þat is the lond of femynye, where þat noman is bu[t] only all wommen.
c1480 (a1400) St. Theodora 590 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 116 Scho, þat þare was munk..lath ware hyr þat ony man suld wit be pruf scho ware weman.
1546 J. Bale First Examinacyon A. Askewe 14 I tolde hym, I was but a woman, & knewe not the course of scoles.
1589 J. Anger Her Protection for Women Ded. sig. Av Was there euer any so abused, so slaundered, so railed vpon, or so wickedly handeled vndeseruedly, as are we women?
1611 T. Coryate Crudities sig. T5 I saw women acte, a thing that I neuer saw before.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 26 Marriage, which is a lawfull copulation of a man and a woman.
1705 C. Cibber Careless Husband ii. i. 13 To be in Love now is only having a Design upon a Woman, a modish way of declaring War against her Virtue.
1780 J. Brown Lett. Toleration (1803) 81 No ecclesiastical power can reside in a heathen, a woman, or a child.
1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto I lxi. 33 Her stature tall—I hate a dumpy woman.
1845 Stat. Acc. XIII. 75 For mossing, men receive 1s. 6d., and women, 9d. per day, without victuals.
1888 Mrs. H. Ward Robert Elsmere III. vi. xlvi. 310 He was unmarried, and a misogynist to boot. No woman willingly went near him.
1927 Lady Astor in Daily Tel. 15 Nov. 9/3 Although we have got the vote we women have a long way to go before we get a positive square deal.
1948 R. Crompton Family Roundabout (2001) iv. 44 She was a tall woman with a fine presence and an uncompromising expression.
2000 Out Aug. 51 Having trans women involved added so much to the breadth of understanding what it means to be a woman.
2005 Metro (Toronto) 2 Nov. 36/1 Expect on-trend, quality clothing and accessories for men, women and kids, all priced at a discount.
b. In plural. With the or identifying word. The female members of a family, household, or other group, etc.; womenfolk.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > women collectively > of household
womeneOE
womankind1557
womenkind1598
womenfolk1729
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) iii. ix. 69 Þær wæs Darius modor gefangen, & his wif..& his ii dohtor. Ða bead Darius healf his rice Alexandre wiþ þæm wifmonnum.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xx. 18 God gewitnode ealle hys [sc. Abimelech's] wimmen, swa þæt heora nan ne mihte habban ænig cild.
?a1300 Maximian (Digby) l. 179 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 98 Þe wimmen þat I se, Þat gladieþ hem wiþ me.
?a1450 Siege Calais (Galba) in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 154 The women, both yung and old, Wyth stones stuffed every scaffold.
c1475 tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie (Cambr.) (1977) 76 (MED) It semeth as they wer doggis..withoute any pitee of mordrers and horrible occisions of Cristen people, dishonoryng the women and put all to ruyne.
1517 R. Torkington Oldest Diarie Englysshe Trav. (1884) 63 On of the Jewys began to syng, and than all the women daunsed.
1565 Cal. Scott. Papers (1900) II. 142 To play a partie at a playe theie call the biles, my mestres Beton and I agaynste the Quene and my lord Darlye—the women to have the gayne of the wynninges.
1611 W. Finch Jrnl. in W. Foster Early Trav. in India (1921) 164 Portraitures of the King in state sitting amongst his women,..behind one punkawing, another holding his sword.
a1688 J. Wallace Descr. Orkney (1693) 30 The Women are very Broodie and apt for Generation.
1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator III. xiii. 212 The Women are so perfectly beautiful,..those who pass there for least agreeable, would in any other Country be celebrated Toasts.
1759 S. Johnson Rasselas II. xxxviii. 87 His women..looked on me with malignity; but being soon informed that I was a great lady..they began to vie with each other in obsequiousness and reverence.
1857 G. A. Lawrence Guy Livingstone ii The fact of his father..having always been suzerain among his women at home.
1897 Chronicle July 156/2 While the women are literally the burden-bearers, it must not be assumed that they occupy an entirely neutral position in the political affairs of the village.
1904 M. Pemberton Red Morn viii The women first, and one by one... If any man goes out of his turn, I will shoot him like a dog.
1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 1 Nov. a1 Neighbors and friends, the women weeping quietly, came in twos and threes to sit with the family.
2004 J. T. Lescroart Motive vi. 94 This, evidently, hadn't been the first moment of friction between the women in the house this morning.
c. With specific reference to age: a female person who has reached adulthood, esp. in legal contexts; a female person who is considered mature. Frequently contrasted with girl.Also with prefixed defining adjectives fully-grown, grown, etc.For more established compounds, as old, young woman: see the first element.
Π
1476 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) II. 7 (MED) Yff ye wold be a good etter off your mete..ye myght waxe and grow ffast to be a woman.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. i. 122 One..that was a woman when queene Guinouer of Brittaine was a litle wench. View more context for this quotation
a1600 T. Deloney Pleasant Hist. Iohn Winchcomb (1619) x. sig. Lij I was a woman, when she was se-reuerence a paltrie girle.
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania ii. 184 My soule was wounded with it, and my heart wasted, and dryed vp; that truely I was growne a woman, worthlesse for outward parts to be looked on.
1690 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §12 I saw lately a Pair of China Shoes, which I was told were for a grown Woman.., they would scarce have been big enough for one of our little Girls.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison II. viii. 51 Girls are said to be sooner women than boys are men.
1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl V. viii. 212 Miss put on her preservers, and said she was quite a well-grown young woman.
1835 T. Hook Gilbert Gurney vii, in New Monthly Mag. 44 18 A girl of seventeen is a woman, when a man of seventeen is a boy.
1867 Act 30 & 31 Vict. c. 130 §3 In this Act..‘Woman’ shall mean a Female of the Age of Eighteen Years or upwards.
1887 Act 50 & 51 Vict. c. 58 §75 In this Act..‘Woman’ means a female of the age of sixteen years or upwards.
1889 ‘J. S. Winter’ Mrs. Bob v A girl she was not, but a woman of at least nine and twenty.
1946 Cosmopolitan Oct. 107/2 He tried to talk to her, to contrast the girl she had been with the woman she had become.
1954 I. Asimov Chemicals of Life ix. 126 The gonads..produce [hormones]..responsible for the changes that take place when a boy or girl grows up to become a man or woman.
2002 GQ Apr. 162/2 She's still very much a girl on the cusp of being a woman.
2. Without article; also with capital initial. In abstract or generic sense: women considered collectively; the female sex. In genitive use: womanly, female, feminine.
ΘΠ
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
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xix. 4 Quia qui fecit ab initio masculum et feminam fecit eos : forðon seðe worohte from fruma woepenmonn & wifmonn geworhte hia.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Deut. (Claud.) xxii. 5 Ne scryde nan wif [L. mulier] hi mid wæpmannes reafe, ne wæpman mid wifmannes reafe [L. ueste feminea].
c1300 St. John Baptist (Laud) l. 2 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 29 (MED) Seint Iohan was þe beste bern..Þat euere of womman was i-bore.
?c1335 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 100 Man and woman, þou aȝtist tak gome, Þis world is ending how hit ssal be.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 9 (MED) Kyng was Kynwolf sex & tuenty ȝere; He was neuer wedded, to womans daungere.
a1450 Dis. Women (Sloane) in B. Rowland Medieval Woman's Guide to Health (1981) 86 (MED) The brayne of woman is more myhgty than her herte.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. a*viiv For in man as man, is no assurance, and moche lesse in woman.
1558 J. Knox First Blast against Monstruous Regiment Women f. 13 v So, I say, that in her greatest perfection woman was created to be subiect to man.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iv. i. 96 For none of woman borne Shall harme Macbeth. View more context for this quotation
1617 R. Speght Movzell for Melastomvs sig. Dv Woman was made of a part of man,..yet was shee not produced from Adams foote, to be his too low inferiour.., but from his side, neare his heart, to be his equall.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 320 Woman's a various and a changeful Thing.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. v. 78 When lovely woman stoops to folly.
1792 M. Wollstonecraft (title) A vindication of the rights of woman.
1849 J. A. Froude Nemesis of Faith 224 All that woman's care or woman's affection could do to soften off her end was done.
1854 J. Esten Cooke Youth of Jefferson xv. 114 For woman has grown stronger even than in the old days. She would not tolerate a lover who espoused her cause from duty: she wants adoring worship.
1869 F. P. Cobbe in J. E. G. Butler Woman's Work & Woman's Culture i. 23 We are not arrogating too much in seeking elsewhere than in the interests of Man the ultimate raison d'être of Woman.
1894 ‘M. O'Rell’ John Bull & Co. 284 Of all the domestic animals invented for the service of man in South Africa, the most useful is woman.
1922 Times 21 Apr. 13/5 It is woman and not man who is primarily responsible for the things that liberate us from the conventional.
2008 G. H. Nemiroff in W. Robbins et al. Minds of our Own 135 Six archetypes, the first three of which—woman as evil temptress, woman as virgin goddess, woman as earth mother—have strong historical roots in Western culture.
3.
a. In plural. Women considered collectively in respect of their sexuality, esp. as a means of sexual gratification. Cf. wine and women at wine n.1 1f(b).In early use also singular in same sense (cf. quots. OE3, a1225).
ΘΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > [noun] > sexual intercourse > specifically with a woman
womenOE
wivingc1300
leap1607
tillage1609
cuntc1664
rogering1788
cock1895
rooting1922
trim1955
coozea1968
stank1980
coochie1986
OE Wulfstan Canons of Edgar (Corpus Cambr.) (1972) lxi. 14 We lærað þæt ænig preost ne lufige wifmanna neawyste ealles to swiðe, ac lufige his rihtæwe, þæt is his cirice.
OE Prognostics (Corpus Cambr.) (2007) 238 Gif on þunresdæg..[mon biþ acenned] se bið gesælig & wifmannum leof gif hit wær bið & wepnedmannum leof [gif] hit wif bið.
OE tr. Chrodegang of Metz Regula Canonicorum (Corpus Cambr. 191) liv. 285 Gif þe wifman genealæhð, þin mod bið gewemmed.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 127 (MED) He him lareð..þat for ates ne for drenches ne for wifmanne, ðe godd haueð ȝescapen manne to ȝemoane, ne scal man naure ben forloren.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Sam. xxi. 4 Yf the yonge men haue onely refrained them selues from wemen.
1577 J. Frampton tr. N. Monardes Three Bookes i. f. 15 Aboue all thynges let hym keepe hym self from Women.
a1674 T. Traherne Christian Ethicks (1675) 90 When a Covetous man doteth on his Bags of Gold..the Drunkard on his Wine, the Lustful Goat on his Women..they banish all other Objects.
1786 J. Strutt Biogr. Dict. Engravers II. 347 Sullivan..applied himself to miniature painting..; but being much addicted to women, his chief practice lay among the girls of the town.
1817 I. Pocock Libertine (ed. 2) ii. i. 27 Lep. If you'll only stick to wine, and give up women... Don J. Give up women, sot!
1898 Southern Reporter 22 532/2 Many of the witnesses..testified that the general character of the defendant ‘was bad for running after women’.
1987 E. Regis Who got Einstein's Office? v. 99 He gave these immense parties... He loved women and fast cars.
2008 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 31 Aug. vii. 4 His passion for women was almost as great as his passion for food.
b. Chiefly derogatory. A woman considered with reference to qualities traditionally attributed to the female sex, as weakness, fickleness, vanity, etc. Also with reference to positive qualities, such as capacity to love, sensitivity, etc. Also in abstract sense (cf. sense 2) and in the genitive.a woman's reason: see reason n.1 Phrases 1c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > womanly qualities or characteristics
tendernessa1387
femininityc1405
feminityc1415
womanhoodc1430
womanc1440
womanliness1538
muliebrity?1592
woman1619
feminality1646
femality1702
femineity1741
feminacy1776
feminility1824
womanism1824
feminism1841
womanness1841
feminicity1843
womanity1843
femininitude1878
the eternal feminine1892
marianismo1972
c1440 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Thornton) l. 107 It weryit, it wayemettede lyke a womane.
c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn l. 872 She had done a vommans dede.
?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Bvj Then know I a lyghter mete than þt... It is euyn a womans tounge For that is euer sterynge.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. clxxxvv This peace was called the womennes peace, for because that notwithstandyng this conclusion, yet neither the Emperoure trusted the Frenche kyng, nor he neither trusted nor loued hym.
1593 Passionate Morrice in Tell-Trothes New-yeares Gift (1876) 79 At last, with a resolution, she played the woman, falling into so kinde a vaine of scoulding, as she had charged him with a thousand discourtesies.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. ii. 146 Frailtie, thy name is Woman.
1612 N. Field (title) A Woman is a Weather-cocke.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) i. ii. 23 Iul. Your reason? Lu. I haue no other but a womans reason: I thinke him so, because I thinke him so. View more context for this quotation
1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. viii. 125 O what great Bargains are these! and cheap enough in any Womans Conscience!
1700 M. Pix Beau Defeated ii. 15 Patching, Painting, Powdering like a Woman, and squeaking like an Eunuch.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 61 But I am as weak as a woman; and I beg the world not to smile, but pity me.
1838 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker 2nd Ser. xvii. 251 You might as well pour a thing into a filterin' stone as into a woman's ear; it will run right thro'.
1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxxviii. 382 Polly, who, with a woman's tact, understood this at once.
1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh xxvii. 226 Don't make such a fuss; you're as bad as a woman.
1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 47 If you're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind, Don't grouse like a woman nor crack on nor blind.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 13/1 Under all his grouch, his grumbling and his peevishness he had a heart as soft as a woman's.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. 714 Shes [sc. a cat] as bad as a woman always licking and lecking.
1956 G. Metalious Peyton Place i. i. 1 Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle.
2005 N. Hornby Long Way Down 132 She dumped me because I wasn't going to be a rock'n'roll star after all... ‘Shittiness, thy name is Woman.’
c. The essential qualities of a woman; womanly characteristics; femininity; that part of a woman considered to be exclusively feminine. Also: a woman as the embodiment of femininity. Now usually with the.In quot. 1661 in predicative use: †feminine, womanish.inner, outer woman: see the first element.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > womanly qualities or characteristics
tendernessa1387
femininityc1405
feminityc1415
womanhoodc1430
womanc1440
womanliness1538
muliebrity?1592
woman1619
feminality1646
femality1702
femineity1741
feminacy1776
feminility1824
womanism1824
feminism1841
womanness1841
feminicity1843
womanity1843
femininitude1878
the eternal feminine1892
marianismo1972
1619 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher King & No King iv. sig. I3v But that my eyes Haue more of woman in vm then my heart, I would not weepe.
1637 N. Whiting Le Hore di Recreatione 18 Not in a fit of woman cry and whine.
1661 J. Evelyn Tyrannus 25 It is not possible to say which is the more Woman of the two Coated Sardanapalas.
1676 J. Dryden Aureng-Zebe v. 80 All the Woman work'd within your mind.
1719 E. F. Haywood Love in Excess: Pt. 2nd 30 He (like most Husbands) thought it best to keep up his Resentments, and take this opportunity of Quelling all the Woman in her Soul, and humbling all the little remains of pride that Love had left her.
1771 H. Mackenzie Man of Feeling xxi. 72 Take away that girl,..she has woman about her already.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth II. ii. 21 It might be..said, that the Earl of Sussex had been most serviceable to the queen, while Leicester was most dear to the woman.
1837 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. May 670/2 Show pride occasionally, but be not unfeminine, for after all it is a woman man seeks in a wife.
1844 Fraser's Mag. 30 532/2 Liddy was really taking the woman upon her in earnest.
1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay vii. 101 She knew that all the woman in her somewhat masculine nature had gone out, in maternal affection to her husband's nephew.
1926 J. Devanny Butcher Shop xxi. 267 The woman in her was awake now.
1989 E. A. Grosz Sexual Subversions iv. 120 The woman in all mothers, a woman not reduced to the preservation and care of others, must be conceived if women are to assert their particularity.
4. Frequently with preceding possessive adjective. A female slave or servant; a maid; esp. a lady's maid or personal attendant (now chiefly historical). In later use more generally: a female employee; esp. a woman who is employed to do domestic work.char-, daily, hired, kitchen-, lady's, servant, shop-, tire-, washerwoman, etc.: see the first element.
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
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning house > [noun] > one who
womanOE
scouring womana1627
schorerc1638
house cleaner1695
charmaid1882
spring cleaner1883
charman1888
charlady1895
char-boy1902
char1906
Putzfrau1906
chargirl1932
Mrs Mop1948
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > [noun] > woman or girl
maidenOE
schelchenec1000
womanOE
maidc1300
ancillec1366
wench1380
child-womana1382
maidservanta1382
serving-womana1398
servantessa1425
servant maid?a1450
woman servant1450
servitrice1477
administress1483
ministressa1500
serving maid?1529
maiden-servant1533
servitrix1566
miskin-fro1585
servant girl1658
girl1668
necessary womanc1689
scout1708
servitress1827
ancilla1871
OE Poenitentiale Pseudo-Egberti (Laud) ii. iv. 17 Gif hwylc wif for hwylcum lyðrum andan hire wifman [L. ancillam] swingeð, & heo þurh þa swingele wurð dead.., fæste seo hlæfdige vii ger.
lOE Manumission, Exeter (Bodl. 579) in J. Earle Hand-bk. Land-charters (1888) 253 Halwun hoce on excestre freode hægelflæde hire wimman.
a1275 St. Margaret (Trin. Cambr.) l. 14 in A. S. M. Clark Seint Maregrete & Body & Soul (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) (1972) 8 Þe moder was an heþene wif þat hire to wyman bere ho sende hit in to asye..to a norice þat..sette hire to lore.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 67 Þis zenne is ine uele maneres ase ine sergons aye hire lhordinges, ine wyfmen aye hare leuedis.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) Ruth ii. 8 Ne go þou in to an ooþer feeld to gederyn ne go a-wei fro þis place, but be þou joyned to my childre wymmen.
1419 Wills of Bury St. Edmunds f. 155, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Womman I beqweþe Jone my woman a taune bed wt a testr and a peyr schet'.
a1450 ( G. Chaucer Bk. Duchess (Tanner 346) (1871) l. 124 Hir women kauȝt her vp anone And brouȝt hir in bed.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin v. 90 I..require that as soone as it is born that ye take it to oon of youre moste secrete woman.
1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxv. f. 239 When time forced hir to retire to hir chambre, hir woman wold haue waited vpon hir.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII i. iv. 96 Sir Thomas Bullens Daughter,..One of her Highnesse women . View more context for this quotation
1664 J. Dryden Rival Ladies i. ii. 10 A Note put privately into my hand By Angellina's Woman?
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. vii. viii. 59 In Town I visit none but the Women of Women of Quality. View more context for this quotation
1763 F. Brooke Hist. Lady Julia Mandeville II. 185 Overcome by the excess of her sorrow, she fainted into the arms of her woman.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. x. ix. 114 Another coach and four, with Seraphina's women.
1886 W. Besant Children of Gibeon I. ii. i. 243 For thirty years..not even admitting a woman to clean up.
1898 R. Hichens Londoners x From Mrs. Crouch, ma'am, her Grace's woman.
1936 A. Clarke Coll. Poems 98 We saw again How Brigid, while her women slept Around her, temple'd by the flame, Sat in a carven chair.
1972 P. Flower Cobweb iii. 91 Valerie asked him to stay to dinner. Her woman, a retiring body Martin hadn't seen yet, was getting it ready.
2009 Eureka (Calif.) Times Standard (Nexis) 6 June Through the program.., he gets..the services of a woman who comes by three times a week to give him baths.
5. As a form of address, used emphatically to indicate contempt, impatience, exhortation, etc. (cf. man n.1 16.). In later use chiefly regional and generally considered offensive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > as form of address
womanc1225
madamc1300
sisterc1450
niece1488
girl1562
Madonna1584
young woman1683
princess1709
Sitt1838
babe1911
modom1920
mama1979
c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 442 Wummon, ȝef þu hauest were efter þi wil.
c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 217 (MED) Ure louerd answerde..‘Wat be longeth hit to me oþer to þe, wyman?’
c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) l. 999 (MED) Ne dred þe noht, womman, in þi þouht.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. xv. 28 O, thou womman, thi feith is grete.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 16651 (MED) Wimmen, wimmen, dos a-wai! wepe yee noght for me.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. iii. l. 105 Vnwittily, womman! wrouȝte hastow oft.
a1450 York Plays (1885) 48 (MED) O! woman, arte þou woode?
a1500 ( Poems from Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) in F. J. Furnivall Wks. T. Hoccleve: Regement Princes (1897) p. xlii Thu me but ‘woman’ callest, As I to the were straunge.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. M.iii Eyther thy fier restraines thy free outgate, O woman, worthy of farre better state: Or peeplepesterd London lykes thee nought.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iv. i. 13 Virg. Oh heauens! O heauens! Corio. Nay, I prythee woman . View more context for this quotation
1657 J. Watts Scribe, Pharisee Ep. to Rdr. sig. b2 Woman, get you home, and follow your own businesses of spinning and webbing.
1726 R. West Hecuba iv. 24 Oh Woman! thy Calamities are great.
1758 A. Murphy Upholsterer i. 18 Prithee be quiet woman—how are we ruined?
1842 S. Lover Handy Andy ix Arrah, woman, don't be talkin' your balderdash to me.
1860 G. A. Sala Baddington Peerage I. iii. 63 ‘Will you hold your tongue, woman?’ her husband..cried out..‘Woman! hold my tongue! This language to me!’
1901 S. Macnaughtan Fortune of Christina M'Nab i ‘Woman, you are just perfect,’ responded Colin, ‘but you have not got the English tone.’
1973 ‘D. Shannon’ No Holiday for Crime (1974) iv. 61 Let me relax in peace, woman.
1990 R. Heath in S. Lefanu & S. Hayward Colours of New Day 137 This is not a tailor-shop, I keep telling you, woman. Is a establishment.
6.
a. A wife; a female with whom a person cohabits. Sometimes hard to distinguish from sense 6b.Now frequently archaic, humorous, or ironic.little, old woman: see the first element.
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife
wifeeOE
womanc1275
peerc1330
spousessc1384
ladyc1390
good lady1502
girl?a1513
spousage1513
little lady1523
the weaker vessel1526
companion1535
wedlock1566
Mrs1572
dame1574
rib?1590
feme1595
fathom1602
feme covert1602
shrew1606
wife of one's bosom1611
kickie-wickiea1616
heifer1616
sposa1624
bosom-partner1633
goodwife1654
little woman1715
squaw1767
the Mrs1821
missus1823
maw1826
lady wife1840
tart1864
mistress1873
mama1916
ball and chain1921
trouble and strife1929
old boot1958
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 11787 Moni ænne gode wifmon i-whorht to bleðere widewe.
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 2174 ȝyf þou..rauyshe any womman, Þat ys to seye, any wedded wyfe, Þe more ys þy synne.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §921 It was ordeyned, that o man sholde haue but o womman, and o womman but o man, as seith Seint Augustyn.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 7041 A night be his woman [L. cum uxore] he lay.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. ii. 281 See the hell of hauing a false woman: my bed shall be abus'd. View more context for this quotation
a1627 J. Fletcher & T. Middleton Nice Valour ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Uuu/1 A man can in his life time make but one woman, But he may make his fifty Queanes a month.
1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vi. 100 Prepare thy Neck, and put it in the Yoke: But for no mercy from thy Woman look.
1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator III. xiii. 32 [He] glory'd in himself for knowing so well how to keep a Woman within what Bounds he pleased, and render even her very Wishes subservient to his Will.
1765 in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 416 My poor little woman has been in the drooping mood for two or three days.
1841 W. M. Thackeray Great Hoggarty Diamond x Gates and his woman thought that they should come for'ard..to help the kindest master and missus ever was.
a1871 T. Carlyle Reminisc. (1881) II. 193 I persisted in them to the last, as did my woman.
1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous vii. 147 He married my woman's aunt.
1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xiv. 157 One awful thug I know, who is now enjoying His Majesty's hospitality, beat his woman up regularly.
1976 Publishers Weekly 15 Mar. 55/2 A husband trying to puzzle out his woman, women-God-bless-them in general, and the whole female shtick.
2005 Guardian 12 Sept. ii. 7/2 You will find your average ubersexual pleasuring his woman while changing a nappy.
b. A woman with whom a person has a romantic or sexual relationship; a female lover, a girlfriend; (also) a mistress; a woman who is supported financially in return for sexual intercourse; esp. in kept woman: see kept adj. 1a. Now colloquial.fallen, fancy-, other, scarlet woman: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > one who is loved or a sweetheart > specifically a female sweetheart or girlfriend
lief971
ladya1393
ladyshipa1393
speciala1400
amiec1400
womanc1400
amoreta1425
mistressc1425
paramoura1450
fair ladya1470
girl?a1513
sooterkin1530
Tib1533
she1547
lady-love1568
jug1569
young lady1584
pigeon1592
love-lass1594
lass1596
dowsabel1612
swainling1615
lucky1629
Dulcinea1638
Lindabrides1640
inamorata1651
baby1684
best girl1691
lady friend1733
young woman1822
moll1823
querida1834
sheila1839
bint1855
tart1864
babykins1870
Dona1874
novia1874
fancy-girl1892
girlfriend1892
cliner1895
tootsy1895
dinah1898
best1904
twist and twirl1905
jane1906
kitten1908
patootie1918
meisie1919
bride1924
gf1925
jelly1931
sort1933
a bit (also piece) of homework1945
beast1946
queen1955
momma1964
mi'jita1970
her indoors1979
girlf1991
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > illicit intimacy > person > a mistress
chevesea700
wifeOE
bed-sister1297
concubine1297
leman1297
file1303
speciala1400
womanc1400
chamberer?a1425
mistress?a1439
cousin1470
doxy?1515
doll1560
pinnacea1568
nobsya1575
lier-by1583
sweetheart1589
she-friend1600
miss1606
underput1607
concupy1609
lig-by1610
factoress1611
leveret1617
night-piece1621
belly-piece1632
dolly1648
lie-bya1656
madamc1660
small girl1671
natural1674
convenient1676
lady of the lake1678
pure1688
tackle1688
sultana1703
kind girl1712
bosom-slave1728
pop1785
chère amie1792
fancy-woman1819
hetaera1820
fancy-piece1821
poplolly1821
secondary wife1847
other woman1855
fancy-girl1892
querida1902
wifelet1983
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 7561 Jn cuntek and slouȝen Hirtan, And ȝulden to Candulek his womman.
1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer iii. sig. Ji.iv A feruent Dialogue full of the affection of a louer with his woman.
1639 J. S. Clidamas 25 Agree to bee my woman, and I will consent to bee thy man.
1666 S. Pepys Diary 13 Oct. (1972) VII. 320 The Duke of York..leaves off care of business, what with his woman, my Lady Denham, and his hunting three times a week.
1729 J. Disney View Anc. Laws vii.146 §ix Athalaric..Directed, that if the kept Woman were a Free-Woman, she and her Children should be delivered to the Wife in Servitude, or perpetual Slavery.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison III. x. 75 I again put it to him, Whether he adhered to his resolution of parting with his woman?
1810 S. Green Romance Readers & Romance Writers III. xxv. 218 They agreed to let the handsome and dashing Mr. Harrington, who could never keep to one woman for one month, enjoy himself with every yielding fair-one, that might chance to please him.
1858 Lancet 27 Feb. 226/2 A well-spoken person,..formerly domestic servant, was seduced, and lived for some time as a kept woman.
1889 W. H. Herndon Let. 5 Jan. in E. Hertz Hidden Lincoln (1940) 233 Speed..was keeping a pretty woman in this city, and Lincoln, desirous to have a little, said..‘Speed, do you know where I can get some?’
1924 J. Galsworthy White Monkey iii. vii They tell me Elderson keeps two women.
1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 80 ‘I didn't realize she was so completely your kept woman.’ ‘She wasn't,’ he said unprotestingly.
2008 New Yorker 28 Jan. 23/3 Le Monde omitted any reference to the President and his woman from at least one front page last week.
7. In contrast with lady, originally signifying a lower rank in society.Woman is now the counterpart of man in formal and legal contexts, although lady is still widely considered to be a more polite term of reference in some social contexts (see lady n. 5, gentlewoman n. 1a.).
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > [noun] > one of the common people > woman
wifeeOE
woman1458
Tib1533
roturière1753
commoneress1791
1458 in Rec. Parl. Scotl. to 1707 (2007) 1458/3/14 As to thar gownys that na woman weir m[er]t[rik]is..And in lik manir without the burowis of wther pur gentillmen and thar wifis.
a1525 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (St Andrews) ix. l. 2727 Knychttis and sqwyaris..prelatis,..Ladeis, madenys, and weman all,..Husbandis..þat wynnis þe corn.
1550 T. Nicolls in tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War Prol. f. vii. v She hath lefte to them nowe lyuinge a memoryall..and an example of goodnes and vertue to all ladyes and women of all estates.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. 243 For Ladies and women to weepe..it is nothing vncomely.
1641 Marianvs xxx. 328 All her Nobles summoned to be at Court, with her Ladies (and women of most account) to attend her Majesty.
1694 W. Westmacott Θεολοβοτονολογια 65 Mark that, you women, and morphew'd ladies.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. ii. 89 The Women and Ladies of the best Quality..made war upon the Bishops, as introducers of Popery and Superstition.
1788 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) VII. 34 Hunting, shooting, fishing, wherein not many women (I should say ladies) are concerned.
1847 Athenæum 30 Oct. 1128/1 Defendant pleaded..that the person described as a woman was in fact a lady.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South II. xiv. 188 So that was the lady you spoke of as a woman?.. You might have told me who she was.
1867 W. H. Dixon New Amer. i These Western boys (every man living beyond the Missouri is a Boy, just as every woman is a Lady).
1922 O. Wister Neighbors Henceforth viii. 87 A woman, a lady—she made me an exactly right bow for disturbing me; a lady plainly by her expression, by her lines, by the way she sat.
1996 Guardian (Nexis) 23 Apr. 13 A few months ago I was reprimanded for addressing a female person as a lady. ‘I am not a lady, I am a woman,’ she replied. My mother would find this quite baffling and so do I.
2005 Femina (S. Afr.) Feb. 27/3 Realising you are not being treated like a ‘lovely lady’ but a full-on woman. Now that's a deal maker!
8. With prefixed noun denoting a school, college, etc.: a woman who is or has been a member of the institution specified. Cf. man n.1 15f.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > member of university > [noun] > (former) specific university or college
mountainer?a1425
Cantabrigianc1540
Oxonianc1540
Sorbonist1560
Oxford man1590
Oxfordian1645
Johnian1655
hog1690
Harvardian1702
squil1721
Cantab1751
king's man1751
Wadhamite1760
Princetonian1807
Brunonian1829
merchant tailor1829
Trinitarian1852
houseman1868
polytechnician1871
Mertonian1883
Cheltonian1887
Girtonian1887
Girtonite1894
Newnhamite1896
woman1896
normalien1904
Somervillian1904
Orangeman1908
Tab1914
Ivy Leaguer1943
Oxbridgean1959
plate-glasser1968
Yalie1969
1896 Bachelor of Arts Nov. 638 I married a Connecticut woman—a Yale woman—and in so doing, I married three Yale brothers-in-law.
1921 A. Gardner Short Hist. Newnham College ii. 45 When the degree examinations were thrown open, a good many Cambridge women took the London BA or MA after their triposes in order to have some title to present to the academic world.
1963 O. Thornburg Earlham ix. 252 Earlham women remained lukewarm, as did those in many a college even in the East, where Wellesley women voted against it two to one.
2002 B. Maddox Rosalind Franklin (2003) ix. 128 UCL women, when polled, chose to retain the status quo.
II. Extended uses.† 9. A plant, or part of a plant, regarded as female. Cf. female adj. 1d. Obsolete. rare. † 11. The female mate of an animal. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun]
flower?c1225
woman?1440
floscle1599
head1704
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xi. l. 186 Pistace is in this mone Of plauntes sette other of nuttis sowe, But man & womman [c1450 Bodl. men & women; L. mas ac foemina] sette to gidre sone Wol fructifie... The man is he that hath, vnder his rynde, Lik bonys, longe stonys as mankynde.
1848 Western Farmer & Gardener 1136 I have been at a loss to describe the two blossoms to persons ignorant of botany, (who would not understand the terms staminate and pistillate,)... The son of one of my tenants..described the difference so as to make it apparent to all... ‘The man he have the beard, the woman have none.’
10. An image, portrait, or figure of a woman; something bearing a resemblance to a female figure. Cf. man n.1 26.
ΘΠ
society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > three-dimensional representation > [noun] > model of a human
woman1509
manikin1535
malkinc1565
man1600
kirn-baby1777
maid1794
knack1813
snowman1827
moggie1896
1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) lvii. sig. O.ii Pygmalyon made a woman of stone.
1646 J. Gregory Notes & Observ. iv. 27 I finde in one of Vespasians Reverses, Silver, A woman standing upon the Ground, and leaning her selfe to a Palmetree, with the very same Inscription.
1702 J. Northleigh Topogr. Descr. i. 14 A Woman in Stone, holding the Town-Arms in one hand..; in the other a Palm of Peace.
1802 J. Britton & E. W. Brayley Beauties Eng. & Wales III. 204 On one of the sides is carved a woman on horseback, without a bridle.
1845 Penny Mag. 22 Mar. 108/2 My little men and women of wood and wire and rags never give me any such trouble.
1906 E. V. Lucas Wanderer in London 170 One of the old weather-cottages, with a little man and a little woman to swing in and out and foretell rain and shine.
1966 E. O. James Tree of Life ii. 60 The most interesting example of a grotesquely obese pregnant woman carved in chalk came to light in 1936.
2000 C. Ridgway Wish You were Here ii. 31 Her own arms were wrapped around the package, which she suddenly realized was a full-sized naked rubber woman.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > family unit > [noun] > female > female mate
wifeOE
woman1577
mistress1692
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 144v The hee Goate,..by a certayne instinct of nature,..goeth alwayes before his woman.
12. colloquial. The reverse of a coin, esp. when it is tossed; = tail n.1 4h. Cf. man n.1 28. Now rare.In allusion to the image of Britannia (see Britannia n. 1) shown on the reverse side of British coins from the king's head. The term became confusing during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > [noun] > obverse or reverse of coin
pilea1393
cross and pile1584
reverse1605
averse1655
ranverse1656
obverse1658
heads1675
tail1684
endorse1688
woman1785
mazard1802
man1828
mick1918
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue at Harp Harp..is also the Irish expression for woman, or tail, used in tossing up in Ireland.
1840 F. Marryat Olla Podrida III. 74 Thos. Here goes—heads or tails? John. Woman for ever.
1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xi I pulled out a shilling. ‘If it's head we go, Jim; if it's woman, we stay here.’
1902 Notes & Queries 27 Sept. 251/1 The Daily Chronicle of 24 May calls to mind what I fancy to have noticed of late, that ‘Head or woman?’ (as applied to bronze coins only) seems to be once again superseding ‘Heads or tails?’
Phrases
P1. Proverbs.† b. a woman and a ship ever want mending and variants. Obsolete.
a. In various proverbial uses.
Π
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 53 (MED) Þeos wimmen þe þus luuieð beoð þes deofles musestoch iclepede.
a1250 (?c1200) Prov. Alfred (Maidstone) (1955) 103 (MED) Wimman is word-wod & haueþ tunge to swift.
?a1300 Iacob & Iosep (Bodl.) (1916) l. 199 (MED) Þer wimman is god, nis non so swete þing.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §140 What is bettre than wisdom, woman; and what is bettre than good womman, no thyng.
a1450 Castle Perseverance (1969) l. 2649 (MED) Þer wymmen arn are many wordys.
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1905) II. 396 (MED) Socrates..sayd þat womman, ay þe mor sho was bett, þe wars was sho.
c1525 J. Rastell New Commodye Propertes of Women sig. Aiiiv Yt is an old sayeng That women be the dyuells netts and hed of syn.
1539 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Prouerbes sig. D.viiv Fyre, See, Woman, thre euyls.
1541 Schole House of Women sig. C.iiiv Women and dogges, causeth moche stryfe.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xix. 194 It..may be likened to the maner of women, who as the common saying is, will say nay and take it.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. 243 A woman will weepe for pitie to see a gosling goe barefoote.
1599 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1629) 194 Seeing as the Proverbe is, a dead woman will haue foure to cary her forth.
1659 N. R. Proverbs 110 Three Women make a Market.
1659 N. R. Proverbs 120 Women laugh when they can, weep when they will.
1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 54 England is the Paradise of women.
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 212 They say, Women and Linnen shew best by Candle-Light.
1851 London at Table iv. 57 Women, wine, game, and deceit, Make the wealth small, and the want great.
1858 A. Trollope Dr. Thorne I. vi. 141 As I and others have so often said before, ‘Women grow on the sunny side of the wall.’
1882 Athenæum 1 Oct. 83 It is not for me to suggest on so nice a point; besides, saith another proverb, A woman's because is no reason.
1982 G. Lukas in N.Y. Times (Nexis) 11 July ii. 15 You know what they say about women, ‘You can't live with them and you can't live without them.’
2000 A. Steinbach Without Reservations (2002) iv. 51 The contemporary maxim ‘a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.’
Π
1578 J. Florio Firste Fruites f. 30v Who wil trouble hym selfe all dayes of his life Let hym mary a woman, or buy hym a shyp.
1594 Mirrour Policie (1599) X ij Is it not an old Prouerbe. That Women and Shippes are neuer so perfect but still there is somewhat to bee amended.
a1633 G. Herbert Outlandish Prov. (1640) sig. D4 A shippe and a woman are ever repairing.
1928 A. T. Sheppard Here comes Old Sailor ii. vi. 141 There are special proverbs for us shipmen: ‘Ware wife and quicksand,’ and ‘A woman and a ship ever want mending.’
c. a woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be and variants. Now disused.
ΚΠ
1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. iii. 20 A woman, an asse, and a walnut tree, Bring the more fruit, the more beaten they bee.
1639 J. Clarke Paroemiologia 117 A woman, asse, and walnut-tree, the more you beat the better be.
?1775 ‘Camlin’ Satisfactory Refut. Sir Hypo Bardana's Circumstances 40 If this is true, it confirms the old distick, A woman, a Spaniel, a walnut-tree, The more they are beat, the more friendly they be.
1945 F. Thompson Lark Rise to Candleford v. 76 A handsome pie was placed before him..such..to illustrate the old saying ‘A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat 'em the better they be.’
d. a woman's work is never done and variants.
Π
1629 in W. Chappell Roxburghe Ballads (1880) III. 302 Maids may sit still, go, or run, But a Woman's work is never done.
1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 50 A womans work is never at an end.
1731 Robin's Panegyrick: Pt. II. 7 'Twill be mere Woman's Work, never done, as they say.
c1825 L. L. Cameron Cradle 12 You know they say ‘A woman's business is never done.’
1873 Trans. Wisconsin State Agric. Soc. 11 431 We find her at work early and late, verifying the old rhyme—that ‘Man must work from sun to sun, but woman's work is never done.’
1933 E. A. Robertson Ordinary Families xiii. 288 It was rush-hour in the brothel, (Woman's work is Never Done).
2001 Heat 17 Nov. 60/2 Whoever said a woman's work is never done must have been referring to Cindy Crawford—superbod, supermodel, fitness guru and now mother of two.
e. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned: see hell n. and int. Phrases 1.
f. a woman's place is in the home and variants.
Π
1828 Bower of Taste 2 Aug. 488/1 It is said, a woman's sphere is in her kitchen, and her usefulness confined to the formation of a pastry.
1845 J. R. Simms Hist. Schoharie County v. 156 It is now very justly determined, that woman's place is in the house and man's in the field.
1889 F. E. Willard Glimpses of Fifty Years v. 520 You say that woman's place is in the home.
1906 H. S. M. Lanyon Married Bachelor iii. 86 ‘A woman's place is in the home’ they said.
2002 Daily Mail (Nexis) 15 Mar. 39 The once-accepted wisdom that a woman' s place is in the home belongs to a bygone age.
g. it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind and variants.
Π
1836 Atkinson's Casket Apr. 197/2 She put the finishing stroke to the discomfiture of her illustrious fiancé by wishing him every happiness independent of her, who claimed a woman's privilege to change her mind, and decline the connexions, no reason assigned thereof.
1899 Trained Nurse & Hosp. Rev. Jan. 207/2 If it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, and this one woman believed they both would be better off apart, was it not well for them to part?
1922 L. Gerard Son of Sahara xiv. 109 ‘It's a woman's privilege to change her mind.’ Pansy grasped at the old adage; but to her a promise was a promise.
1964 Life 9 Oct. 114/1 (advt.) Considering woman's natural (and frequently exercised) prerogative to change her mind, this may well be the boldest statement of the ages.
2009 M. Ellis Widow's Hope 273 Always remember, son, it's not just a woman's prerogative to change her mind. A man can too.
P2. Connected by a preposition with another noun.Many of the following phrases correspond with those listed at man (see man n.1 Phrases 1.).woman of colour, woman of fashion, woman of pleasure, woman of quality: see the final element.
a. † woman of the siecle n. Obsolete a secular woman, a laywoman; see siecle n. 1.
Π
a1425 Rule St. Benet (Lansd.) (1902) 37 (MED) When any wymmen of þe sekil, sais sain Benet, cummis at aske þordir..man sal do als ta-postil sais.
b.
woman of the world n. (a) a secular woman, a laywoman; (b) (now the usual sense) a woman who is experienced in the ways of life or the conventions of society, frequently expressed by a pragmatic or down-to-earth attitude.
ΘΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > [noun] > knowledge of how to behave > knowledge of conventions of society > one who
woman of the worlda1470
man of the world1891
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > worldly wisdom > [noun] > one possessed of > female
woman of the worlda1470
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 995 The grettist parte of thys gurdyll was made of my hayre, whych somme tyme I loved well, whyle that I was woman of the worlde.
1616 T. Gainsford Rich Cabinet sig. Z8 v A man must not onely beware of vnhonest and filthy talke, but also of that which is base and vile,..as for example, to scratch the scabbes of sinne, to name weomen of the world scuruy whores.
1780 F. Burney Diary Apr. (1904) I. vii. 328 She is an easy, chatty, sensible woman of the world.
1822 M. Edgeworth Let. 10 Apr. (1971) 393 Lady Clare is a painted—made up—vulgar thorough going woman of the world.
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen viii. 125 Presently, (though with all the skill of a woman of the world,) she shuffled away the subject.
1900 Public Opinion 4 Jan. 15/1 The members of this order are women of the world, of any denomination, without special vows.
1973 J. Porter It's Murder with Dover xii. 119 They were hardened women of the world and knew a cheap skate when they saw one.
2001 Daily Mail (Nexis) 6 Dec. 56 She is a rich, experienced woman of the world, who makes a healthy living by exploiting her beauty and sex-appeal.
c. † woman of livelihood n. Obsolete = woman of property n. at Phrases 2n.
Π
1484 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1865) III. 257 (MED) Marye hym till a woman of livelod to his degre.
d.
woman of honour n. a woman who has a strong sense of honour and uses this to guide her actions; an honourable woman; (also) a woman of high rank (now chiefly historical).
ΚΠ
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxxviij Cicile Duches of Yorke..a woman of small stature, but of muche honour and high parentage.]
1556 M. Huggarde Displaying of Protestantes (new ed.) f. 75v Montanus..first with money corrupted manye women of honoure and great substance.
1566 W. Painter tr. O. Landi Delectable Demaundes f. 96v A woman of honor is no runner out of the dores, but kepeth her selfe within her house.
1671 Duchess of Newcastle Natures Picture (ed. 2) 179 Twenty such like tricks, which no Woman of Honour can like.
1715 J. Vanbrugh tr. F. C. Dancourt Country House ii. 22 You must behave your self like a Woman of Honour, and keep your Word.
a1823 A. Radcliffe Gaston de Blondeville (1826) II. 29 Within, amongst these ladies and women of honour, were forty wax lights, so that they might be seen and known..by every one in the court.
1852 Blackwood's Mag. May 592/1 In paying the debt himself, and saving her from arrest, he conferred on her the obligation which no woman of honour could accept.
1903 N. W. Stephenson Eleanor Dayton xiii. 128 You will act like women of honour, who have birth and breeding behind you—not like nursery maids.
2009 Assoc. Press State & Local Wire (Nexis) 22 Oct. Everything I have submitted..is 100 percent factual... I am a woman of honor. This is not a personal vendetta.
e.
woman of sense n. an intelligent or rational woman.
Π
1647 H. Neville Parl. of Ladies (Wing N512A) sig. B Every woman of sense should take delight to please her eye with the most curious objects.
1785 Mrs. S. Boys Coalition I. ix. 81 You, my dear,..are not an idle romantic girl, but a woman of sense.
1894 Cent. Mag. Dec. 318/2 Let me, who have shown myself to be a fool, prove that I can be a woman of sense.
1993 K. Robards One Summer v. 40 Johnny Harris was not a man any woman of sense would want to get involved with.
f. woman about town: see town n. Phrases 5.
g.
woman of the house n. the dominant female of a household; a woman in charge of a home.
Π
1667 S. Pepys Diary 30 June (1895) XII. 334 The woman of the house is a very talking bawdy jade.
1766 T. Amory Life John Buncle II. xi. 388 She came in first with a black mask on her face, from her chair, and was by the woman of the house shewn into a chamber up stairs.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple II. v. 70 ‘Conscripts!’ said the woman of the house..‘I am billetted full already.’
1880 J. M. Bailey Danbury Boom! x. 65 It depends on the amount of nervous force possessed by the woman of the house.
1928 P. O'Donnell Islanders ii. 19 ‘Wagga, ye didn't sleep in the mornin',’ the woman of the house greeted her, benedictions having been exchanged.
1966 ‘M. Hunter’ Ghosts of Glencoe xi. 131 We were seated by the fireside and the woman of the house was mixing oatmeal with hot water and honey and butter to make a bowl of brose.
1980 A. E. Fisher Midnight Men iv. 45 Bathrooms should reflect..the woman of the house... I'd like a sort of whorish pink.
2001 A. Franklin & P. Mason Lammas i. i. 23 The woman of the house would don a new white apron and prepare to cook them [sc. potatoes].
h. woman of business: see business n. Phrases 28c.
i.
woman of letters n. a female writer, esp. one with an academic background; (also) a female scholar.
Π
1694 W. Congreve Double-dealer ii. i. 15 I'm the more amazed, to find you a Woman of Letters, and not Write.
1756 T. Amory Life John Buncle I. 119 Tho' she was no woman of letters,..she talked with an ease and perspicuity that was wonderful.
1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. (1876) 316 Our little woman of letters [sc. Lady Mary W. Montagu] read all the books she could lay her hands on.
1904 New Outlook 9 Apr. 886/2 The distinctive quality of the work of the American woman of letters is the vividness and force of its characterization.
2005 J. Smiley Thirteen Ways of looking at Novel 528 Muriel Spark is a true woman of letters who has written many novels,..as well as short stories, biographies, criticism, and other essays.
j.
woman of the bedchamber n. British a woman who attends on the queen or queen mother (cf. lady of the bedchamber n. at lady n. Phrases 1b(c)).
ΚΠ
1706 A. Boyer Hist. Reign Queen Anne: Year the Fourth 82 The Women of the Bed-Chamber to her Majesty in another of the Queens Coaches; the Maids of Honour in another.
1839 Times 3 Apr. 5/1 The Marchioness of Tavistock and Lady Theresa Digby have succeeded the Marchioness of Normanby and Lady Charlotte Copley as the Lady and Woman of the Bedchamber in waiting on the Queen.
1944 Eng. Hist. Rev. 59 276 Abigail Hill, destined to become famous later in the reign, was now receiving a salary of £500 as a woman of the bedchamber.
2006 Financial Times (Nexis) 28 Dec. 2 His wife Lady Susan is Woman of the Bedchamber to the Queen.
k. woman of the town: see town n. Phrases 6b.
l.
woman of easy virtue n. a sexually promiscuous woman; a prostitute; cf. lady of easy virtue n. at lady n. Phrases 3b.
Π
1772 J. Dudley Memoirs 28 I was surprized to see so many fine women of easy virtue, and had scarce resolution to keep from accompanying one of them home.
1798 Monthly Mag. Suppl. No. 33, 15 July 547/1 A woman of easy virtue would not be suffered to mix with the company in the lower boxes of the theatre.
1858 W. W. Sanger Hist. Prostitution xxiii. 290 At public ceremonies, if a woman of easy virtue ventured to take precedence of a woman of honorable fame, she was immediately reminded of the impropriety of conduct by some member of the order.
1981 N.Y. Times 7 June 51/3 It is about a ‘ruined’ servant girl, grown rich as a woman of easy virtue.
2002 C. Mason Touch so Wicked iv. 63 She had no idea why the thought of Damian bedding a woman of easy virtue should bother her, but it did.
m.
woman of the people n. a woman of low social status; an ordinary or working-class woman; (also in later use) a woman who identifies with ordinary people.In quot. 1782 (euphemistically): a woman who has love affairs; a prostitute.
Π
1782 H. Walpole Let. 7 Sept. (1904) 328 Charles Fox is languishing at the feet of Mrs. Robinson. George Selwyn says, ‘Who should the man of the people live with, but with the woman of the people?’
1825 Dramatic Table Talk 1 p. xxiv Piercing cries, and convulsive sobs..will signalize the sorrows of a woman of the people the same as that of a duchess.
1907 G. B. Shaw Major Barbara iii. in John Bull's Other Island 274 I thought she was a woman of the people, and that a marriage with a professor of Greek would be far beyond the wildest social ambitions of her rank.
2003 U.S. Catholic (Nexis) 1 Dec. 12 Mary sings this song as a woman of the people, like millions of poor peasant women in Latin America.
n.
woman of property n. a woman who owns a substantial amount of property, esp. in the form of buildings and land.Formerly, a woman's property and income became her husband's at her marriage unless her father had made legal arrangements to prevent it; such arrangements were unusual, being made primarily for the benefit of future grandchildren.
Π
1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne iii. viii. 340 He was originally a mere soldier of fortune, who had raised himself by marrying women of property.
1860 M. J. Holmes Cousin Maud & Rosamond v. 63 'Twas a maxim of hers to stay where she pleased, particularly as she was a woman of property.
1913 D. Lloyd George in Hearst's Internat. Aug. 212/2 I voted against the..Conciliation Bill which proposed to give the vote to every woman of property..and at the same time enfranchise only about one-tenth..of the working women of the country.
2009 Observer (Nexis) 2 Aug. 8 She is 50 years old. She is divorced. She is a woman of property... On the other hand, she is still miserable.
o.
woman of all work n. a female servant who does all kinds of housework (now historical); (in later use more generally) a woman who performs a wide range of tasks or duties; cf. maid-of-all-work n. (a) at maid n.1 3b.In quot. 1796 (euphemistically): a female servant who agrees to have sexual intercourse with her employer.
ΚΠ
1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) Woman of all Work, sometimes applied to a female servant, who refuses none of her master's commands.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxi. 334 The young woman of all work.
1919 R. L. Felton Country Life in Georgia 294 I am of the opinion that a lady who is the woman of all work in the family—trainer of children—housekeeper and cook—seamstress and servant, [etc.].
1998 San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News (Nexis) 23 Mar. The museum has lost the help of founding president, board member, guiding light and woman of all work, Gwen Bell.
p. woman in the street: see street n. and adj. Phrases 5.
q.
woman to woman adj. and adv. (a) adj. (esp. of communication) that is open and honest between two women; (b) adv. in a manner that is characterized by open and honest communication between women.
Π
1852 Harper's Mag Apr. 678/2 [She] paid her first respects to the wife;..her manner implied respect—but it was more kind, simple and cordial..; as the sage..had said..‘it was Woman to Woman’.
1902 R. Hughes Whirlwind iv. ii. 261 Lucy wept with her, woman to woman. It was the first whole-souled, heart-emptying cry Lucy had had.
1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. iii. v. 586 ‘I should think you have news,’ said Susie, smiling and being tremendously woman-to-woman.
1935 E. Bowen House in Paris ii. iii. 114 Her round slate-blue eyes rolled in a woman-to-woman way.
1982 H. Innes Black Tide v. iii. 272 If I told her, woman-to-woman, the sort of person Karen was... Perhaps she'd understand then.
2005 Sun (Nexis) 3 Oct. Invite your neighbour in for a cup of tea. You know she feels guilty and a woman-to woman chat may ease the tension.
r.
woman of the night n. (a) any of various malevolent female spirits; (b) a prostitute.
Π
1854 W. Howitt tr. J. Ennemoser Hist. Magic II. 92 Certain Christian myths..mingled themselves with the ecclesiastical legends of the middle ages, especially amongst the people. Thus elves and giants were converted into devils, and women of the night into witches.
1880 Sat. Rev. 6 Nov. 571/2 Apart, again, from these are the wilder shapes of the woodland, lamia who steal children, and the dreadful women of the night who wash the bodies of the dead.
1890 Cincinnati Lancet-Clinic 22 Mar. 369/2 The streets are full of women of the night.
1929 Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail 6 Oct. 1/6 For the first time in three years Borger is without gambling dens, liquor joints and women of the night.
1957 Times 8 Aug. 5/3 He said he would present evidence designed to prove that the magazines ‘operated through private eyes and women of the night to make contact with prominent people around Hollywood and create situations’.
2000 N. Kanellos Noche Buena 95 Half a dozen women of the night..were attending to the erotic desires of the missionaries.
s.
woman of the street n. a prostitute; a streetwalker.
Π
1910 H. Weysz tr. A. Schnitzler Duke & Actress in Poet Lore July–Aug. 274 He must run to some woman of the street, that's what he likes best.
1987 M. O. Macgoye Present Moment (2000) 98 I did not know the rules about women having to register for health reasons—and, all said and done, I am not a woman of the streets—so I soon came back again.
P3. Phrases with verbs and modifiers.
a. one's own woman: see own adj. 1c.
b.
(a) to be made a woman (of), to come to be a woman: to lose one's virginity; to become a sexually active female. Also in the active voice with a man as subject.
Π
?1573 L. Lloyd Pilgrimage of Princes f. 55v The fiftie Uirgins..being set for their Uirginities certaine..baites of purpose by the Gentlemen of Messena, and nowe ready..being then maydes, to be made women that night.
1691 T. D'Urfey Love for Money v. i. 46 I've been told a Maid goes through a great deal of trouble before she comes to be a Woman.
1745 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 493/1 I found her, ah! wou'd I had left her, a maid: Untaught as the lambs which she watch'd on the common, Allur'd by this purse, I made her a woman.
1820 W. Tooke tr. Lucian Lucian of Samosata I. 737 You have learnt that it is not so terrible an affair to be made a woman of as you imagined. The fine young gentleman that taught it you, left a handsome present for you.
2002 A. Clarke Polished Hoe (2004) 67 I liked giving myself to a man... I was being made a woman of.
(b) to make an honest woman of: see honest adj. and adv. Phrases 1.
(c) to make a woman of: to compel into a role traditionally associated with women; to bring into submission; to make weak or appear as such; spec. (among certain Native American peoples) to deprive of male status and its accompanying rights; now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > subjecting or subjugation > subject [verb (transitive)] > make submissive
stoopc1275
to lead by the sleevec1425
to lead by the nose1583
subdue1598
woman1611
melt1668
to make a woman of1742
1742 in Colonial Rec. Pennsylvania (1851) IV. 579 We conquer'd You, we made Women of you.
1835 Knickerbocker Oct. 334 We have determined to punish this man: we will make a woman of him!.. A couple of our canoe-men were then called, and told to begin the ceremony.
1892 Boys' Brigade Gaz. 1 June 89/1 You must not set him to knit stockings and thus make a woman of him.
1910 F. W. Hodge Handbk. Amer. Indians North of Mexico II. 599/2 It was the usual custom to depose the coward from man's estate, and, in native metaphor, ‘make a woman of him’.
1990 R. Silverberg Queen of Springtime (2005) ix. 296 ‘Surely you'll forbid him [to go to war], father!’ ‘No... He said I'd be making a woman of him, if I forced him to stay home.’
c.
woman scorned n. a woman who has been betrayed in love, esp. one who has been rejected in favour of another woman.In allusion to Congreve's use hell hath no fury like a woman scorned (see hell n. and int. Phrases 1d.).
Π
1696 C. Cibber Love's Last Shift iv. 71 He shall find no Fiend in Hell can match the fury of a disappointed Woman!—Scorned! slighted! dismissed without a parting Pang!]
1753 Hist. Fanny Seymour xxxv. 294 After the Salutation, (which may be naturally expected from a Woman scorned; and heaping upon him the Names of Hypcrite and Villain) she composed herself a little, and thus addressed him.
1807 Lady Morgan Novice of St. Dominick I. viii. 81 She..for once descended from the accustomed trope, figure, and metaphor, of her high-flown rhetoric, to speak in the more forcible and poignant language of ‘a woman scorned’.
1866 J. G. Saxe Masquerade & Other Poems 56 In classic authors we are often warned There's naught so savage as a ‘woman scorned’.
1927 W. Johnston Affair in Duplex 9B 60 The old idea of ‘the woman scorned’ on which Chilton had been relying this time failed utterly.
1971 ‘J. Ripley’ Davis doesn't live Here 124 The discarded mistress—the ‘woman scorned’—motive.
2006 Time Out N.Y. 22 June 100/1 Here's more bitchery on wheels: an Indian gothic fear film about a woman scorned and the fury that follows.
d. Originally Nautical. women and children first: (on a sinking ship) directing that women and children should be allowed on to the lifeboats before men; (hence allusively) recommending escape from a situation (chiefly humorous).
ΚΠ
1856 R. Newton Rills from Fountain of Life 101 The women and children first, then every man for himself, and God for us all!
1860 W. D. O'Connor Harrington x. 188 Back from the boats... The first man that touches a boat I'll brain. Women and children first, men.
1928 Times 1 Feb. 16/5 There is another story of another rather ‘dud’ play. After the third act, so great was the rush of the audience to fade away that a man stood up and shouted, ‘Women and children first!’
1934 M. V. Hughes London Child (1946) xi. 106 ‘Women and children first,’ shouted Barnholt, and..Edgar gave me a mighty push toward the shore.
1992 R. Rankin Brentford Triangle (BNC) 212 When he flung a dart it was very much a case of stand aside lads, and women and children first.
e. to become a woman: to begin to menstruate.
Π
1857 Med. Times & Gaz. 27 June 637/2 The case of a young lady..in whom there was no menstruation, and who had not the usual development; he suspected the ovaria were wanting: there were no mammæ; she never became a woman.
1900 Critique 15 July 248 Miss G..consulted me for relief from painful menstruation ever since she became a woman.
1970 L. Gould Such Good Friends 110 I stumbled out of the cubicle, exhausted..but securely, triumphantly Tampaxed. That night I took Parker pen in hand and inscribed..in my memory book: ‘Today I became a woman’.
1996 F. McGuinness Carthaginians (rev. ed.) v, in Plays: 1 348 Greta Do you remember the first time you became a woman? Did you know what was happening? Sarah Just about. I had sisters.
P4. Used with punning reference.† b. In plural. To we and men. Obsolete.See etymological note.
a. To woe and man. Now rare.See etymological note.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > as pun
woman1546
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. vii A woman! As who saith, woe to the man!
1573 J. Fowler in More's Dialoge of Cumfort (rev. ed.) To Rdr. sig. *iiij Man himselfe borne of a woman, is in dede a wo man, that is, ful of wo and miserie.
1591 (?a1425) Adam & Eve (Huntington) in R. M. Lumiansky & D. Mill Chester Myst. Cycle (1974) I. 24 Woman, cursed mote thou bee, for wee bothe nowe shente... Yea, sooth sayde I in prophecye when thou was taken of my bodye—mans woe thou would bee witterlye; therfore thou was soe named.
1653 R. Flecknoe Miscellania 70 Shep. Woe has end, when 'tis alone: But in woman never none. Nim. Say of Woman worst ye can, What prolongs their woe, but man?
1715 J. Noddell Christ's Crucifixion 125 Woe Man of Woman wilt surely woe Man be Lost with the Devils everlastingly.
1836 Universalist & Ladies' Repository Feb. 324/1 I will not call her who thus acteth a woman—rather woe-man—for she is woe to all around her.
1862 H. B. Wheatley Anagrams 73 This is akin to those who say that woman is woe to man.
1989 C. Yawney in A. R. Miles & G. Finn Feminism viii. 191 They play with puns on women—woe to men—and on Adam—a damned.
Π
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 35 I had thought that women had bene as we men, that is true faithfull, zealous, constant, but I perceiue they be rather woe vnto men, by their falshood, gelousie, inconstancie.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xvii. 112 Not money: nor many, Nor any: but any, Not weemen, but weemen beare the bell.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. iii. 336 Or Womens sake, by whom we Men are Men. View more context for this quotation
1601 in A. H. Bullen More Lyrics Elizabethan Age (1888) 143 Women, what are they?.. We men, what are we?
P5. Modified by a number or quantifier, forming a phrase used attributively or as an adjective, as two-woman, four-woman: comprising the number of women specified; suitable for or requiring the number of women specified. Cf. one-woman adj. at one adj., n., and pron. Compounds 4.
Π
1858 Cincinnatus 3 402 It is not a small thing to have at one's command a ten-woman-power which, with a touch of the foot and hand, springs into action with a precision which no eye can equal.
1891 Phrenol. Jrnl. June 37/2 At one place I saw a three-woman team with a man for a driver.
1912 Locomotive Engineers Jrnl. Oct. 953/1 Certainly being a wife is a two-woman job, for if any man got what he thinks are his just deserts in matrimony it would require one wife to look after his physical comfort..and another wife to entertain him and go about with him.
1967 Geogr. Jrnl. 133 596 A four-woman expedition..undertook botanical research and geographical exploration of an area round Krisuvik.
1984 USA Today 6 Apr. 1 c/3 They are members of the..eight-man, three-woman USA boardsailing team training here together.
2001 High Country News 26 Mar. 9/3 Long and I were a two-woman brigade, helping to save the salmon: I pulled from the sack, I slung, she caught, she flung.
Compounds
In plural frequently with women. See Compounds 4, Compounds 5. C1.
a. General attributive, as woman-flesh, woman-haunt, woman nature, etc.
Π
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 29 The woman sexe is no lesse apte to learne al maner thynges then menne are.
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 104 Woman modestie kept her silent.
1631 T. Heywood Fair Maid of West: 1st Pt. iii. 31 In this woman shape Ile cudgell thee.
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Prophetesse iii. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Eeee3/1 You'll find it but a woman-fit to try ye.
1726 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xix. 82 Into the woman-state asquint to pry.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake v. 231 The only man, in whom a foe My woman-mercy would not know.
1846 Mrs. Carlyle in Jane Welsh Carlyle (1924) 278 What a contrast I often think betwixt that woman and Geraldine! the opposite poles of woman-nature!
1880 G. Meredith Tragic Comedians II. v. 83 Exactly what his appreciation, in womanflesh, would lead him to fix on.
1895 Catholic Mag. Dec. 453 Her shrewd woman-wit.
1897 ‘H. S. Merriman’ In Kedar's Tents xxvi. (heading) Womancraft.
1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow iii. 81 He must get out of this oppressive, shut-down, woman-haunt.
1946 D. Thomas Deaths & Entrances 40 The next-door sea dispelled Frogs and satans and woman-luck.
1971 V. Canning Firecrest vi. 83 He put his arm round her shoulder..and felt through silk the warmth and firmness of woman flesh.
1991 T. Spanbauer Man who fell in Love with Moon i. 70 Always smelled of roses..—roses mixed with woman smell.
b. Appositive, passing into adj.: female.† (b) In depreciative use: having the character considered to be typical of a woman; effeminate; lacking in strength or purpose. Obsolete.
(a) Prefixed to designations of occupation, employment, or status, esp. those traditionally applied to men, to indicate that the person referred to is a woman, as woman doctor, woman driver, woman friend, woman officer, woman teacher, etc.
Π
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 3 Kings xvii. 9 A womman widuwe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 29420 If þou wit þi woman frend Find clerk be doand dede vn-hende.
a1450 (?c1400) Three Kings Cologne (Royal) (1886) 33 A womman-paynym þat was his moder.
c1450 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 600/47 Sacerdotissa patrina, a wommangossyb.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 289/2 Woman coke, cuisiniere.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 258 The famous woman poet Sapho.
1659 D. Pell Πελαγος Ep. Ded. sig. d Wee are so wise now, that wee have our woman Politicians.
1675 T. Brooks Word in Season Gen. Ep., in Paradice Opened sig. 4*4 A Woman-martyr, who..offered her self to Martyrdom.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis xi, in tr. Virgil Wks. 568 A Woman-Warrior was too strong for thee.
1706 M. Prior Ode to Queen xxvi The Woman Chief is Master of the War.
1717 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad III. ix. 756 One Woman-Slave was ravish'd from thy Arms.
1763 New & Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. at Ædituus The female deities had a woman-officer of this kind called a Æditua.
1805 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 54 A woman-shearer, through the harvest, is reckoned equal to the rent of a cottage and yard.
1854 C. Dickens Child's Hist. Eng. III. xxix. 73 Edward was now sinking in a rapid decline..they handed him over to a woman-doctor who pretended to be able to cure it.
1877 W. Black Green Pastures & Piccadilly I. i. 2 With scarcely a woman-friend in the world.
1899 W. James Talks to Teachers ii. i. 227 What our girl-students and woman-teachers most need..is..the toning-down of their moral tensions.
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 8 Apr. 9/4 [She] requested that Miss Thompson, now acting for the organization as a social worker, be recognized as a woman police officer.
1933 N. Waln House of Exile i. vi. 96 A Western educated woman doctor.
1968 R. L. Fish Bridge that went Nowhere iv. 44 I might have known it would be a woman driver!
1979 Guardian 5 May 12/2 Becoming Britain's first woman Prime Minister is one [achievement]..that can only change perceptions of what women can aspire to.
1992 Daily Express 8 June 6/3 The terrorists..sprayed bullets at a pursuing police car, narrowly missing a woman officer.
2007 J. Medlicott Come walk with Me 208 Here I am today without a trusted woman friend to chat and relax with, much less confide in.
Π
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xxv. sig. Yy1v Rather then onely shew her selfe a woman-louer in fruitles lamentations.
1656 A. Cowley Davideis i. 10 in Poems I have been a pious fool, a Woman-King.
(c) With names of animals, forming fanciful designations of creatures regarded as having the qualities or properties both of a woman and of the particular animal, typically in equal proportions.
Π
a1625 J. Fletcher Womans Prize iv. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Pppp3v/1 I..know her To be a woman-Woolfe by transmigration.
1673 R. Allestree Ladies Calling i. iii. §23 Nothing can be more unnatural, more odious, then a woman-tiger.
1889 H. R. Haggard Allan's Wife xi The brutes, acting under the direction of that woman-monkey.
1893 J. Rodway Hand-bk. Brit. Guiana 67 How such an unwieldy creature [as the manatee]..could ever have been figured as a woman-fish can hardly be understood by anyone who has seen it.
1900 G. C. W. Warr tr. Aeschylus Agamemnon 36 in Oresteia Yon woman-lion couching with a wolf, That knavish wolf within the kingly lair, Will raven me.
1996 M. A. Doody True Story of Novel (1997) 48 He sees it [sc. sex], for the first time, as..taking power over another. (In a way, that is what this woman-wolf did to him).
2002 R. Hobb Fool's Errand 554 The woman-cat is what you're bonded to, not the cat itself.
c. Objective.† woman churching adj. Obsolete† woman-follower n. Obsolete† woman-spiter n. Obsolete
woman-bearing adj.
Π
1928 N.E.D. at Woman sb. Woman-bearing.
Π
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xli. 336 An uprising or Woman Churching Treatment.
woman-degrading adj.
Π
1846 Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Mag. 5 33 Even the woman-degrading dogmas of the Eldons and other Chancellors of England may this way be set at nought, unworthy as they are either of reason, humanity, or law.
1920 Missionary Rev. World 43 300/1 Three-fourths of the women of the world are illiterate, as a result of the woman-degrading religions of Oriental countries.
2007 M. Mask in L. D. Friedman Amer. Cinema of 1970s 56 The woman-degrading function of pornography.
woman-despising adj.
Π
1840 8th Ann. Rep. Mass. Anti-Slavery Soc. 37 With excellent qualities for a lecturer, and a rare spirit of self-sacrifice, she has..done much to confound our woman-despising adversaries.
1914 J. C. Underwood Lit. & Insurgency v. 224 His heroine and her kind are held up as..slave-drivers to their good-natured, indifferent, woman-worshiping, woman-despising, money-making husbands.
2002 Guardian (Nexis) 21 Mar. ii. 7 Her extraordinarily lengthy domination over a party of resentful, scheming, often woman-despising men.
woman-flogging adj.
Π
1846 Northern Star & National Trades Jrnl. 23 May 8/4 We appeal to you men of all nations..against the woman-flogging tyrant Nicholas.
1930 R. C. Flannagan Whipping viii. 80 Crying to high Heaven for justice upon such sneaking, snooping, night-shirted, woman-flogging filth.
Π
1870 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Iliad I. iii. 82 O luckless Paris, nobly formed, Yet woman-follower and seducer!
woman-murdering adj.
Π
1846 Northern Star 20 June 7/2 Bravely does the author..denounce the..English court and aristocracy in paying homage to the child-killing, woman-murdering tyrant.
1994 G. O. MacKenzie Transgender Nation 123 Norman Bates, the cross-dressed, woman-murdering star of Psycho.
woman-queller n.
Π
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. i. 55 Thou art..a man queller, and a woman queller . View more context for this quotation
1824 J. Beresford Cross & Crescent viii. 317 Black ravisher!..foul Coward!..Woman-Queller!
1900 Q. Rev. July 116 He loves, in his lofty style, to be a man-queller and a woman-queller, holding up his Aurispas Sperellis, and various artistic puppets to scorn.
woman-quelling n. and adj.
Π
1859 A. Strickland Lives Queens Scotl. VIII. 297 A fine lesson in the art of wife-taming and woman-quelling.
1906 H. Lanyon Married Bachelor iii. 69 He invariably posed—unconsciously, of course, to himself—as a woman-quelling hero, and was not at all aware of a fact one or two discerning women saw a glance—his own unfitness to live.
woman-scorner n.
Π
1842 W. M. Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. June 713/2 I am a woman-scorner, and don't care to own it. I hate young ladies!
1935 W. H. Auden & C. Isherwood Dog beneath Skin i. v. 57 But perhaps you're a woman-scorner.
2001 New Yorker (Nexis) 22 Oct. 72 And so the rumors accrue, hardening the image of Wilder the cynic, Wilder the man-hater and woman-scorner.
woman slayer n.
Π
1830 T. Wade Jew of Arragon iii. iv. 47 Out of my gates, ye Christian woman-slayers!
1993 Toronto Star (Nexis) 15 Apr. w10 A genre-spanning new album..that probes societal attitudes about everything from bisexuality..to mass murderers, including Montreal woman slayer Marc Lepine.
Π
1847 C. G. F. Gore Castles in Air I. v. 80 A perpetual sense of aggression had converted me, not into a woman-hater, but a woman-spiter.
woman worship n.
Π
1809 Antijacobin Rev. & Mag. 32 458 She also represents the image or woman-worship of the Italians, and their Madona [sic] in terms not very flattering to bigotted papists.
1920 J. B. Cabell (tittle) Domnei: A comedy of woman-worship.
2003 E. Prioleau Seductress vii. 213 Schooled in the New Learning and chivalry, with its courtoisie and woman worship.
woman-worshipper n.
Π
1825 Christian Spectator Sept. 456/2 A woman-worshipper and a woman-hater both derive their mistakes from ignorance of the female world.
1920 T. Beer Fair Rewards ix. 230 ‘What a nation of woman worshippers you are!’ ‘Were,’ said Russell, ‘We're getting over it.’
2002 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 1 May 29 He played the alcoholic and idealistic woman-worshipper of The Duel..with..‘nervy perfection’.
woman-worshipping adj.
Π
1852 C. Kingsley in Fraser's Mag June 163/1 True to the old woman-worshipping instinct, they looked one and all at her flashing eyes, full of noble pity and indignation,..—and drew back.
1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia iii. 114 Woman-worshipping Don Juans.
2004 S. G. Mattar Primitivism, Sci. & Irish Revival v. 220 His description of the woman-worshipping Celt fitted better with her own primitivist vision of ancient Ireland.
woman-wronger n.
Π
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. vii. sig. Ee4v Foule womanwronger . View more context for this quotation
1872 C. A. Bartol in Radical May 341 How can a reformer be other than hot to an oppressor, rum-seller, woman wronger, man that steals a railroad, or that wants to steal a church?
1908 J. H. McCarthy Duke's Motto 179 Æsop..now began to taunt his antagonist savagely, calling him a child-stealer and a woman-wronger, with other foul terms of abuse.
d. Instrumental.† woman-conquered adj. Obsolete† woman-daunted adj. Obsolete
woman-built adj.
Π
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 89 A new-world Babel, woman-built.
1915 C. P. Gilman in Forerunner Mag. Aug. 211/2 She looked out..to where some women were..building a new bit of wall..; looked back at the nearest town with its woman-built houses.
2003 Frontiers 24 1 In these woman-built structures all women passed their menstrual periods, girls' puberty rituals took place, children were birthed, [etc.].
Π
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iii. 64 Woman-conquer'd [stood] there The bearded Victor of ten-thousand hymns.
Π
1598 S. Rowlands Betraying of Christ sig. Div Woman-daunted Peter.
woman-dominated adj.
Π
1911 A. N. Meyer Dominant Sex i. 24 Yes, I'm man-dominated—but you're woman-dominated.
1967 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 67 289/3 Sims Gaynor has seemed to enjoy working in this woman-dominated world of publishing for nursing.
2008 MX (Austral.) (Nexis) 12 Feb. 24 This show has a woman-dominated cast, each of them with a very different private life.
woman-governed adj.
Π
1794 R. Southey Coleridge's Fall of Robespierre iii. 181 The woman-govern'd Roland.
1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 111 Heavily, heavily terror falls On the woman-governed halls!
1994 M. M. Kunin Living Polit. Life i. 9 In a woman-governed administration, such as mine in Vermont, this traditional political bonding was magnified by the knowledge that we women were doing it differently.
woman-made adj.
Π
1874 Common Sense 25 July 133/1 The Order will be no one-sided affair—man-made or woman-made—but will be composed of as nearly an equal number of men and women as may be practicable.
1918 H. G. Wells Joan & Peter (1921) xi. 325 The atmosphere of all that inner world of influence is a woman-made atmosphere, and an atmosphere made by women who are for the most part untrained and unread.
2005 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 27 Mar. e4 With its fascinating collection of man-made, woman-made and nature-made items, the Miles Historical Village has something for everyone.
woman-tended adj.
Π
1857 Ld. Dufferin Lett. from High Latitudes vi. 36 The elegance and comfort of a woman-tended home.
1989 G. Osa in W. A. Douglass Ess. Basque Social Anthropol. & Hist. 322 This woman-tended haven was solace and confinement to him, fellowship blended with the loss of absolute freedom.
e. Similative and parasynthetic.† woman-fair adj. Obsolete† woman-vested adj. Obsolete
woman-breasted adj.
Π
1885 Ld. Tennyson Tiresias in Tiresias & Other Poems 14 The woman-breasted Sphinx, with wings drawn back, Folded her lion paws, and look'd to Thebes.
1928 W. B. Yeats tr. Sophocles King Oedipus 42 Oedipus overcame the woman-breasted Fate.
1984 M. Caldecott Child of Dark Star (2005) xi. 131 She totally believed she was the woman-breasted, feather-winged Harpy whose image she wore about her neck.
woman-faced adj.
Π
1591 J. Harington tr. L. Ariosto Orlando Furioso xxxiv. xlvii. 284 And least those woman faced monsters fell, Might after come from out that lothsome ledge,..Gainst the caue, he made a thicke strong hedge.
1610 J. Healey tr. J. L. Vives in tr. St. Augustine Citie of God xviii. xiii. 686 Ausonius..makes her [sc. the Sphinx]..woman-faced.
1844 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 29 198 The long flowing beards and the woman-faced men have frequently alternated in the different ages of the world; and beards seem now to be coming into favor again.
1998 J. Sturrock in J. DiSalvo et al. Blake, Politics, & Hist. iii. 341 Harpies, the woman-faced, bird-winged monsters who steal and defile food.
Π
1866 E. Bulwer-Lytton Lost Tales Miletus 96 Beside him sate An image woman-fair.
woman-headed adj.
Π
1836 G. Long Brit. Mus. Egyptian Antiq. II. Index 441 Number of sphinxes once existing there; one avenue of, woman-headed, 1,500 feet long.
1984 Jrnl. Warburg & Courtauld Inst. 47 212/1 Only in the woman-headed serpent does the artist clearly diverge from the Dürer engraving.
woman-proud adj.
Π
1838 E. B. Barrett Romaunt of Page in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 683/2 Yet God thee save—and mayst thou have A ladye to thy mind, More woman-proud, not faithfuller, Than one thou leav'st behind!
1993 A. DuCille Coupling Convent. iv. 71 The woman-proud lyrics of their blues-singing sisters.
Π
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 73 Woman-vested as I was.
C2. † woman bond n. Obsolete = bondwoman n.Apparently an isolated use.† woman-louper n. Scottish Obsolete rare (probably) a womanizer.† woman-post n. Obsolete a female messenger or courier.† woman-raving adj. Obsolete = woman-mad adj.† woman-reputation n. Obsolete favourable opinion from women.† woman-tired adj. Obsolete rare dominated by a woman or wife; henpecked; see tire v.2 2.† woman-ways adv. Obsolete in the customary manner or style of women.
woman actor n. (a) an actress; †(b) a male actor who plays women's parts (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor playing specific type of part
ruffy1502
chorus1561
prologuer1570
prologue1579
turquet1625
woman actor1633
underpart1679
epilogist1716
prologist1716
epiloguizer1748
old man1762
prologuizer1762
buffo1764
extrac1777
jeune premier1817
primo buffo1826
character actor1841
utility man1849
deuteragonist1855
character comedian1857
bit playera1859
utility actor1860
serio-comic1866
juvenile lead1870
serio-comique1870
heavy1880
utility1885
thinker1886
onnagata1889
serio1889
juvenile1890
tritagonist1890
oyama1925
juve1935
1633 W. Prynne Histrio-mastix 649 Hee who hath married a strumpet, or a woman-actor or stageresse, cannot be an Elder, a Bishop, or Deacon.
1699 J. Wright Hist. Histrionica 9 Alexander Goffe, the Woman Actor at Blackfriers..used to be the Jackal.
1843 Ainsworth's Mag. 3 355 Kynaston, the woman-actor, was such a favourite amongst the court ladies, that they frequently carried him away in their carriages at the conclusion of the performances.
1903 M. MacLane My Friend Annabel Lee x. 74 Any other woman actor would have long since massaged this fullness [beneath her chin] away.
2009 R. Brustein Tainted Muse i. 23 Cross-dressing was a crucial Elizabethan theatrical convention, especially in a theatre forbidden by law to put woman actors on the stage.
woman boat n. now rare = women's boat n. at Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > vessels of primitive construction > [noun] > canoe of indigenous peoples > skin
kayak1767
women's boat1767
umiak1769
woman's boat1769
woman boat1831
bidarka1834
1831 F. W. Beechey Narr. Voy. to Pacific I. x. 331 This boat, called by the natives oomiac, is the same in every respect as the oomiac, or woman boat of the Esquimaux. It is here used by the men instead of by the women.
1895 R. Kipling Second Jungle Bk. 146 Big skin ‘woman-boats’, when the dogs and the babies lay among the feet of the rowers.
1929 Pop. Mech. June 1003/1 The only summer visitors are an occasional hunting party in an umiak—otherwise a ‘woman boat’—which has places for ten or a dozen women to row while the men rest at ease.
woman body n. chiefly Scottish and Irish English a person of the female sex, a woman (typically implying sympathy for the subject).
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
1771 Disguise II. v. ix. 87 Not that any woman-body could easily have rode away with bay-filley.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ix, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. I. 255 It was an awkward thing for a woman-body to be standing among bundles o' barkened leather her lane, selling saddles and bridles.
1887 H. Caine Deemster I. xii. 255 The young woman-body is dead in child-bed.
1971 E. McCabe in Dublin Mag. 9 8 ‘Course they'd have no sheets, and the blankets must be black.’‘And why not,’ another said, ‘no woman body ever stood in aither room this forty years.’
ΘΠ
society > authority > subjection > slavery or bondage > [noun] > slave > female
theowa900
ambohtc1175
thrallessa1382
bondwoman1387
serve1480
bondmaid1526
naif1531
maid slave1585
slave-girl1607
slave woman1607
woman bond1675
house girl1791
thrall-woman1886
bondswoman-
1675 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Odysses iv. 12 The second wedding was his son's, Whom on a woman bond he had begot.
woman-born adj. and n. (a) adj. born of a woman; human; mortal; (b) n. a person who is born from a woman; a human; (also) such people collectively.
ΘΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > [adjective] > born > of a woman
woman-born1781
1781 W. Cowper Charity 181 Canst thou..Buy what is woman-born, and feel no shame?
1805 R. Southey Madoc ii. x. 277 His the other pile, By whose peculiar power and patronage Aztlan was blest, Mexitli, woman-born.
1842 J. Wilson Christopher North (1857) I. 217 Nor in those days needed he [sc. Burns] help from woman-born.
1865 E. FitzGerald tr. P. Calderón de la Barca Mighty Magician i. i. 19 Him, the woman-born, Who is one day to bruise the serpent's head.
1901 R. Kipling Kim iv. 112 But to none among men, if so be thou art woman-born, has my heart gone out as it has to thee—thoughtful, wise, and courteous, but something of a small imp.
1998 M. Bond & P. Michael Mother's World Introd. p. xv No matter..how wide the gulf of gender, culture, race, class, and time, all of us are woman-born—everyone has a mother.
woman-bred adj. depreciative (now rare) brought up by a woman (implying a lack of masculine influence or qualities); mollycoddled, weak.
ΚΠ
1846 W. Cross Disruption xii. 122 Your mode of dressing does not altogether please me... I object to it less for itself, than as an indication that you are woman-bred.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxxviii. 351 The boy grew up delicate, sensitive, imperious, woman-bred.
1901 K. M. Caffyn Happenings of Jill xxx. 328 Lord Kendrick, woman-bred, sensitive, nervous, vain, could endure many things, but ridicule was death to him.
woman-centred adj. (a) having a woman or women at its centre; (b) from a female perspective; focusing on women's needs, strengths, etc.
Π
1909 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 14 592 Next we find in the existing family clear traces of that early long-dominant social unit, the woman-centered group of the matriarchate.
1914 H. G. Wells World set Free v. 298 Your love songs which turn the sweet fellowship of comrades into this woman-centred excitement.
1970 Q. Rev. Biol. 45 59/1 Unaware how man-centered (as opposed to woman-centered) their comments were.
2006 N. Aschkenasy in P. S. Hawkins & L. C. Stahlberg Scrolls of Love 33 Given a woman-centered reading of Ruth, the dramatic dialogue emerges as a strategy granting women a clear and direct voice.
woman dangler n. a man who pursues women for casual romantic encounters, a philanderer (see dangler n. 1).
ΘΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > sexual indulgence > womanizing or associating with loose women > one who
horlinga1200
holourc1230
whore-mana1325
putourc1390
putroura1425
whoremastera1425
whoremonger?a1472
putyer1477
whoredomerc1485
holarda1500
whore-keeper1530
mutton-monger1532
smell-smock?1545
stallion1553
woman-louper1568
limb-lifter1579
Lusty Laurence1582
punker1582
wencher1593
womanist1608
belly-bumper1611
sheep-biter1611
stringer1613
fleshmongera1616
hunt-smock1624
whorer1624
womanizer1626
woman errant1628
mongera1637
linen-lifter1652
whorster1654
whorehopper1664
cousin1694
smocker1708
mutton-master1729
woman dangler1850
masher1872
chippy chaser1887
chaser1894
stud1895
molrower1896
skirt-chaser1942
1850 Fraser's Mag. Nov. 508/2 That when his back is turned the Senecas may not call him a thief as well as a woman-dangler.
2000 S. Cerin Origin of God xvi. 307 A woman dangler will imagine his paradise as a river shore with naked women anxious to hold him in their arms.
woman errant n. †(a) a female prostitute (obsolete); (b) (chiefly humorous) a woman who is like a knight errant in being on a quest for something (now rare).
ΘΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > sexual indulgence > womanizing or associating with loose women > one who
horlinga1200
holourc1230
whore-mana1325
putourc1390
putroura1425
whoremastera1425
whoremonger?a1472
putyer1477
whoredomerc1485
holarda1500
whore-keeper1530
mutton-monger1532
smell-smock?1545
stallion1553
woman-louper1568
limb-lifter1579
Lusty Laurence1582
punker1582
wencher1593
womanist1608
belly-bumper1611
sheep-biter1611
stringer1613
fleshmongera1616
hunt-smock1624
whorer1624
womanizer1626
woman errant1628
mongera1637
linen-lifter1652
whorster1654
whorehopper1664
cousin1694
smocker1708
mutton-master1729
woman dangler1850
masher1872
chippy chaser1887
chaser1894
stud1895
molrower1896
skirt-chaser1942
1628 J. Shirley Wittie Faire One ii. ii What make you here, my woman errant?
1881 C. E. Clement Eleanor Maitland vii. 82 We have not had a serious conversation since that in Florence, just before you started off as a woman-errant to look for your knight.
1904 M. O. Wright Woman Errant iv. 73 The free woman errant goes out equipped for the day's contest with all her best points accentuated.
woman-grown adj. (in predicative use) that has reached womanhood.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > adult > [adjective] > adult woman
womanly?1507
woman-grown1786
wife-old1898
1786 R. Burns Cotter's Sat. Night iv, in Poems & Songs (1968) I. 146 Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman-grown, In youthfu' bloom.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 56 The maiden woman-grown.
1917 T. Hardy Moments of Vision & Misc. Verses 203 Then younger, younger she grew, to the year I first had known Her woman-grown.
2006 D. Gillespie Lady of Light 100 She was woman-grown, then, but unknown—someone else's child.
woman-hearted adj. and n. (a) adj. that has a heart like a woman; frequently used depreciatively with implications of weakness or cowardice; (b) n. (with the) women-hearted people as a class.
ΚΠ
1760 F. Douglas Earl of Douglas v. i. 66 Their officer!—a wretch I lately rais'd—A woman hearted soldier.
1813 H. G. Knight Alashtar iii. xiii Well may the mild, the woman-hearted fail.
1864 L. M. Alcott Moods xvi. 220 Warwick could only submit to this woman-hearted child, and love her with redoubled love, both for what she was and what she aspired to be.
1914 B. Moses Spanish Dependencies in South Amer. i. 25 The great majority of the inhabitants were not woman-hearted... The Spanish colonist manifested a virility that commends him to those who admire the heroic qualities of men.
1997 B. Cornwell Excalibur viii. 244 Liofa, left impotent in Arthur's wake, called him woman-hearted.
woman-hour n. an hour regarded in terms of the amount of work that can be done by a woman in this period.Chiefly used as a conscious and sometimes humorous alternative to man-hour.
ΘΠ
society > occupation and work > work > amounts of work > [noun] > amount per person per time unit
hour1900
man-hour1915
woman-hour1915
man-shift1930
work rate1957
1915 Biennial Rep. Industr. Welfare Comm. Calif. 247 For these canneries the preparing records (i.e. cutting, pitting and peeling) for over 115,000 woman hours were secured.
1979 M. McCarthy Cannibals & Missionaries i. 4 I'm doing a serious study of the woman-hours expended in this family.
2005 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 18 May 10 I have spent far too many womanhours considering the vexed question of whether or not to wax those leg hairs away.
woman-house n. chiefly Scottish now rare (a) a house, room, etc., that serves as accommodation for women (esp. female servants) and children (cf. women-house n. at Compounds 4c) (now historical); †(b) the laundry of a mansion house (obsolete); (c) a house occupied wholly or predominantly by a woman or women.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > types of house > [noun] > houses occupied by specific types of people
grass house1557
woman-house1566
fishing-house1676
family house1727
henhouse1785
women-house1792
bachelor('s) hall1841
bachelor-apartment1857
garçonnière1927
bachelor1968
bachelorette1973
pit house1974
squat1975
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > place where washing is done
lavendry1377
washing-house14..
bucking-stoke1483
laundry1577
wash-house1577
laundry-house1585
bucking-house1597
wash-yardc1625
lavatory1661
buck-house1738
woman-house1754
wash-kitchen1838
water-shed1859
washery1875
1566 Protocol Bks. T. Johnsoun (1920) 101 The place of Caulder..The woman hous.
1611–12 in H. M. Paton Accts. Masters of Wks. (1957) I. 340 In the barnes chalmer called the woeman hous ane wondoke of auld glas.
1622 Breadalbane Coll. Documents & Lett. (Edinb. Reg. House) No. 428 Off tubbis in the voman hous.
1655 J. Lamont Diary (1830) 87 Dauid Browne..did poynt the wholle house..the old ladys chamber, the woman house, the sclat-girnell, [etc.].
1754 State of Process, Mrs. Forbes v. D. Scot (Jam.) Water lying on the floors of the woman-house and kitchen.
1900 Geogr. Jrnl. 16 421 It is customary in many places to have large ‘man-houses’ for the males, and smaller ‘woman-houses’ for the women and children.
1907 J. Colville in Ochtertyre House Bk. of Accomps 1737–9 p. xxix Outhouses were brewhouse, guill or still-house, slaughter-house, milkhouse, bake-house and two ‘woman houses’.
1912 E. Frazer Man-House in Cosmopolitan Mar. 608 Most houses, unless otherwise advertised, is woman-houses. If a man lives there, he's got to mind the woman in it, or look out for nasty weather.
woman keeper n. now historical a female nurse (see keeper n. 1e).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > nurse > [noun] > female
woman keeper1580
women-sleeper1630
1580 J. Stow Chrons. of Eng. 1055 Between euery twentie children one woman keeper, whych children were in number 340.
1707 N. Tate Injur'd Love v. 59 The Snuff is out; no Woman-keeper i'th' World, Tho' she had practis'd seven years at the Pest-House, Could have don't quaintlier.
1879 J. S. Lloyd Hazelhurst Myst. xiv. 276 She offered to receive Kate and a woman-keeper, and promised to see that she was treated with care and kindness.
2004 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 58 269 Brutal forced feeding..using a long spouted ‘tea pot’..caused suffocation. Mrs Hodges..had died this way at the hands of a cack-handed woman keeper, Mary Seal.
woman-killer n. (a) a person, typically a man, who kills a woman or women; (b) = ladykiller n. at lady n. Compounds 2e.
ΘΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > loss of chastity > [noun] > seduction > seducer
seducera1616
woman-killer1654
cousin1694
betrayer1766
ladykiller1769
Lovelace1773
Don Juan1847
wolf1847
Casanova1928
homme fatal1935
1654 tr. G. B. Manzini Manzinie his Exquisite Academicall Disc. ii. 10 This glorious woman-killer return'd from a field, where hee got himselfe more shame by his flight, then he did his Countrey advantage by his victory.
1774 Assignation I. ix. 54 We shall see the self-satisfied Edmond Harcourt, with that air of agreeable effrontery and assuming negligence, fancy himself a perfect woman-killer.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxix. 252 Having a firm conviction in his own mind that he was a woman-killer and destined to conquer.
1940 N. Davis in O. Penzler Black Lizard Big Bk. of Pulps (2007) 643/1 You're a dirty woman-killer. She got sassy with you and you picked up that knife and stuck it in her throat.
1961 I. Fleming Thunderball (1963) ii. 23 The man was extremely handsome—a dark bronzed woman-killer with a neat moustache.
2008 Daily Record (Nexis) 24 July 26 (headline) Dumped by his wife for a lesbian lover, he became a woman killer.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > sexual indulgence > womanizing or associating with loose women > one who
horlinga1200
holourc1230
whore-mana1325
putourc1390
putroura1425
whoremastera1425
whoremonger?a1472
putyer1477
whoredomerc1485
holarda1500
whore-keeper1530
mutton-monger1532
smell-smock?1545
stallion1553
woman-louper1568
limb-lifter1579
Lusty Laurence1582
punker1582
wencher1593
womanist1608
belly-bumper1611
sheep-biter1611
stringer1613
fleshmongera1616
hunt-smock1624
whorer1624
womanizer1626
woman errant1628
mongera1637
linen-lifter1652
whorster1654
whorehopper1664
cousin1694
smocker1708
mutton-master1729
woman dangler1850
masher1872
chippy chaser1887
chaser1894
stud1895
molrower1896
skirt-chaser1942
1568 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) III. 44 A ȝong man..witles A pure man spendar getles A auld man trechour trewthles A woman lowpar landles..sall nevir..do weill.
woman-mad adj. that has a strong desire for or an obsession with a woman or women; driven or motivated by such a desire.
ΘΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > lasciviousness or lust > [adjective] > lustful for women
effeminate1490
woman-mad1791
woman-raving1851
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. iii. 68 Curst Paris! Fair deceiver! Woman-mad! I would to all in heav'n that thou hadst died Unborn, at least unmated!
1844 J. T. Headley tr. ‘C. Sealsfield’ North & South iv. 20/2 The poor fellow is woman-mad. His passions are aroused, and he is prepared for any folly.
1913 J. B. Connolly Sonnie-Boy's People 216 He's money-mad and woman-mad, and always was.
2007 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 9 Sept. g20 His able-bodied crew has been replaced by a bunch of hapless wonders, including a woman-mad doctor and questionable chef.
woman-man n. an effeminate man; a man who has qualities, undertakes tasks, etc., traditionally associated with women (cf. to make a woman of at Phrases 3b(c)); (also) a woman with masculine qualities; cf. man-woman n.In quot. 1567: (with reference to Aristophanes's speech in Plato's Symposium) any of the androgynous double beings from which human beings are descended, having been split in half by the gods as a punishment for hubris. Compare androgyne n.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > man > [noun] > effeminate man
badlingeOE
milksopc1390
cockneyc1405
malkina1425
molla1425
weakling1526
tenderling1541
softling1543
niceling1549
woman-man1567
cocknel1570
effeminate1583
androgyne1587
meacock1590
mammaday1593
hermaphrodite1594
midwife1596
nimfadoro1600
night-sneaker1611
mock-mana1625
nan1670
she-man1675
petit maître1711
old woman1717
master-miss1754
Miss Molly1754
molly1785
squaw1805
mollycoddle1823
Miss Nancy1824
mollycot1826
molly mop1829
poof1833
Margery?c1855
ladyboy1857
girl1862
Mary Ann1868
sissy1879
milk1881
pretty-boy1881
nancy1888
poofter1889
Nancy Dawson1890
softie1895
puff1902
pussy1904
Lizzie1905
nance1910
quean1910
maricon1921
pie-face1922
bitch1923
Jessie1923
lily1923
tapette1923
pansy1926
nancy boy1927
nelly1931
femme1932
ponce1932
queerie1933
palone1934
queenie1935
girlie-man1940
swish1941
puss1942
wonk1945
mother1947
candy-ass1953
twink1953
cream puff1958
pronk1959
swishy1959
limp wrist1960
pansy-ass1963
weeny1963
poofteroo1966
mo1968
shim1973
twinkie1977
woofter1977
cake boy1992
hermaphrodite-
1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxix. f. 350 For so much as vertue ought to be the bande of that indissoluble amitie, which maketh the vnion of the two seuered bodies of that woman man, which Plato describeth, & causeth man to trauell for his whole accomplishment in yt true pursute of chast loue.
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iii. 12 May one hope..In Woman-Men a manly Constancie?
1620 Bp. J. King Serm. 26 Mar. 50 Quid androgynus? (saith Tully) what is a man-woman, woman-man?
1621 J. Taylor Superbiæ Flagellum C 6 The Woman-man, Man-woman, chuse you whether, The Female-male, Male-female, both, yet neither.
1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Twelfth Bk. Metamorphoses in Fables 443 O Shame, a Nation conquer'd by a Man! A Woman-Man; yet more a Man is He, Than all our Race.
1835 P. Gaskill Old Bachelors I. xiv. 251 Is it more disgusting to see a virago—a woman-man, or a poor degenerate wretch, a man-woman—a fellow that does nothing but simper.
1878 W. Black Macleod of Dare xl, in Good Words 19 723/2 A poor creature—a woman-man—a thing of affectation, with his paint-box and his velvet coat, and his furniture.
1922 Munsey's Mag. Sept. 696/1 It was not permissible for him to help her carry another load, for he would have been deemed a woman man, and most witheringly scorned by the gentle object of the attention.
1970 H. Slochower Mythopoesis 81 The deliverer [sc. Hercules] must engage in his ‘Twelve Labors’ and serve as woman-man to Omphale.
1994 T. Zeldin Intimate Hist. Humanity (1998) vii. 111 My life as a woman-man has failed. I have been taken for a ride.
2001 L. Erdrich Last Rep. on Miracles at Little No Horse viii. 153 One was a powerful bull-chested hunter with legs that bulged with fabulous muscles, and the other was an ikwe-inini, a woman-man called a winkte by the Bwaanag.
woman market n. †(a) a market selling things suitable for women (obsolete); (b) a market where women are sold as slaves (now historical); (frequently figurative and in extended use) a society, event, etc., in which women are treated as a commodity or otherwise exploited.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > market > [noun] > market-place > for other specific goods
woman market1443
bigg-marketa1733
stock-market1858
1443 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1883) II. 408 (modernized text) A lane next the Womanmarket.
1531 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1883) II. 366 Item of the Bayly of Whatton for a tenement byneth the Hencros in the Woman Merkett.
1768 H. Brooke Fool of Quality III. xvi. 206 Another Lady then demanded if we had not a Woman Market, and if they were not Slaves in my Country as they were here?
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 69 He never yet had set his daughter forth Here in the woman-markets of the west.
1906 H. W. Nevinson Mod. Slavery iii. 53 He did not complain of the price, though men who were better acquainted with the uses of the woman-market considered it unnecessarily high.
2005 P. Camiller tr. P. Monzini Sex Traffic 156 Young female migrants may be attracted, deluded, tricked or snared into the cheapest sectors of prostitution, at any point in their trip... Structures have now taken shape that may be said to constitute a veritable ‘woman market’.
woman movement n. = women's movement n. at Compounds 5.
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to
womanism1850
women's movement1851
woman's movement1853
woman movement1854
feminism1895
women's liberation1898
the Movement1966
women's group1968
women's lib1969
1854 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 11 Jan. 492 The woman-movement of this age, which is now before the public, attracted his truly generous mind. Her narrow sphere, her circumscribed position, her unfair remuneration, all attracted our departed philanthropist.
1898 Daily News 14 Dec. 5/1 It is in educational affairs that the Woman Movement appears to be making the most progress.
1998 J. R. I. Cole Modernity & Millennium vi. 165 In the West feminism emerged out of the nineteenth-century ‘woman movement’, which had concentrated on charitable and benevolent service and civic reform.
woman palaver n. /ˈwʊmən pəˌlɑvər/,
Brit. /ˈwʊmən pəˌlɑːvə/
, /ˈwʊmən pəˌlɑːvə/U.S. /ˈwʊmən pəˌlævər/
, /ˈwʊmən pəˌlævər//ˈwʊmən pəˌlɑvər/West African English /ˌwuman paˈlava/
West African trouble or difficulties caused, typically to a man, by romantic or sexual involvement with a woman or women, esp. a married one; see palaver n. 1./ˌwuman paˈlava/ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > sexual indulgence > womanizing or associating with loose women
whore-playa1325
whoring1530
whore-huntinga1533
whoremonging1549
palliardy1568
queanry1568
queaning1569
harloting1575
wenching1590
whorism1598
coney-catching1616
whoremastery1618
woman palaver1803
molrowing1860
whorehopping1916
1803 T. Winterbottom Acct. Native Africans Sierra Leone I. viii. 127 Those cases in which life or liberty of the accused are endangered, may be referred to three principal heads; which, to use the African mode of expressing them, are termed, sauce palaver,..witch palaver; and woman palaver, or adultery.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. xii. 281 This passing down of the rubber and ivory gives rise between the various towns to a series of commercial complications which rank with woman palaver for the production of rows.
1970 Drum (Johannesburg) Feb. (E. Afr. ed.) 39/2 I am a boy of 21... I want a girl friend, someone to pet me. But I feel I should get a job before getting involved with woman palava.
2008 Africa News (Nexis) 13 June He wasted no time again in re-enlisting into the Force... He got booted out the second time for what he described as ‘woman palaver’.
woman physician n. †(a) a doctor who treats female patients (obsolete); (b) a female doctor (now chiefly U.S.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [noun] > female
woman physician1533
doctress1577
doctrix1604
doctoress1641
physicianess1662
lady doctor1684
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > specialist > [noun] > gynaecologist
woman physician1533
ovariotomist1865
gynaecologist1872
oophorectomist1883
1533 in Hist. MSS Comm.: MSS Duke of Rutland (1905) IV. 274 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 2606) LXIII. 301 To a woman phicisian..iijs. iiijd.
1591 H. Smith Preparatiue to Mariage 76 To helpe him in his sicknesse, like a woman Phisition.
1625 J. Hart Anat. Urines ii. vi. 85 Much lesse then the ignorant Empiricke, the peticoate or woman-physitian.
1798 M. Hays Appeal to Men Great Brit. 199 I would do any thing but die, rather than have a woman physician.
1873 ‘M. Twain’ Gilded Age xv. 144 There was one woman physician driving about town in her carriage, attacking the most violent diseases in all quarters with persistent courage.
1990 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 Apr. 63/3 (advt.) Woman physician from Boston, attractive with sense of humor..seeks man 35–50 professional, financially independent, nonreligious.
ΘΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > person
letter bearera1400
breveterc1440
post1507
letter carrier1552
post boy1588
ordinary1592
packet carrier1606
postie1611
woman-posta1616
postwoman1683
letterman1707
postman1758
packeteer1784
letter boy1794
carrier1798
delivery officer1839
post-girl1850
mailman1881
packeter1893
postlady1975
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) i. i. 218 But who comes in such haste in riding robes? What woman post is this? View more context for this quotation
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 83 A woman-post in flying raiment.
woman-proof adj. impervious to the charms of women.
Π
1704 T. D'Urfey Tales 91 The Devil this time was Woman-Proof.
1926 C. Barry Detective's Holiday 94 He himself was woman-proof!
2002 G. Morris Jordan's Star 164 ‘Does it make you jealous for me to talk with another man?’ ‘Not a homely fellow like Ty. Besides, I think he's woman proof!’
woman question n. (with the; also with capital initials) the issue of women's rights, esp. as a matter of political controversy in the 19th cent.
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to > controversy over rights of women
woman question1833
1833 1st Ann. Rep. New-Eng. Anti-slavery Soc. 31 Among the incidents alluded to has been a discussion upon what has been technically called ‘the woman question’.
1857 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 21 Sept. (1954) II. 383 Quite delivered from any necessity of giving a judgment on the Woman Question or of reading newspapers about the Indian Mutinies.
1975 J. Leighton S. de Beauvoir on Woman vii. 208 Simone de Beauvoir's preoccupation with the woman question can clearly be seen as one of the dominant motifs of her work.
2003 Community Care (Nexis) 6 Mar. 22 She has come back to politics clearly marked, on the woman question at least, as a politician of principle and commitment.
ΘΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > lasciviousness or lust > [adjective] > lustful for women
effeminate1490
woman-mad1791
woman-raving1851
1851 T. A. Buckley tr. Homer Iliad iii. 50 Cursed Paris..thou woman-raving seducer.
ΘΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > [noun] > with women
woman-reputationa1641
a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) vii. 395 To which popular credit and woman-reputation they attained..by their saint-seeming sanctity.
woman-ridden adj. dominated by a woman or women.
Π
1810 C. James New Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) at Ridden A man that is influenced, governed, and, consequently, rendered ridiculous, by female management, out of his domestic concerns, is said to be woman-ridden.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond II. iv. 65 A weak priest-ridden, woman-ridden man.
1996 Washington Post (Nexis) 26 Apr. b1 More of a woman-ridden Thurber hero than the William Powell-like smoothie.
woman shoemaker n. †(a) a maker of women's shoes (obsolete); (b) a female shoemaker (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > one who makes women's shoes
woman shoemaker1704
1704 London Gaz. No. 4003/4 Robert Fleetwood, a Woman Shoemaker.
1795 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. (new ed.) VI. 5 They wrote..that Grandier was the author of the piece, entitled ‘La Cordonniere de Loudun’; that is, ‘The Woman Shoe-Maker of Loudun’: which was a severe satire upon the cardinal's person and family.
1899 Public Opinion 16 Mar. 344/1 A woman shoemaker took my eye, and she did a nice little trade of her own, especially for the babies.
1901 I. F. Hapgood tr. M. Gorky Orlóff & his Wife 90 He praised the woman shoemaker so zealously that he evoked in me a desire to make her acquaintance.
woman-slaughter n. colloquial the murder or killing of a woman; manslaughter (manslaughter n. 1) involving a female victim.Chiefly used as a conscious and sometimes humorous alternative to manslaughter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing of type of person > [noun] > of woman
woman-slaughter1639
femicide1801
feminicide1831
1639 J. Taylor Divers Crabtree Lect. 82 Least there should be man-slaughter, or woman-slaughter committed.
1720 T. Gordon Humourist I. 169 But only be deem'd Woman-slaughter.
1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & Widows I. ix. 191 They had never heard of a verdict of woman-slaughter in their lives.
1912 C. W. Saleeby Surg. & Society xiii. 312 There is plenty of woman-slaughter to be recorded, still committed by doctors and nurses alike to whom the names Lister and Nightingale are nothing.
1995 P. T. Deutermann Official Privilege (1996) lvii. 447 The Hardin girl was murdered, dummy. No it wasn't—that was manslaughter. Woman-slaughter, to be politically correct.
woman suffrage n. = women's suffrage n. at Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
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
1846 Northern Star 24 Oct. 8/4 Give us the ‘People's Charter’, and then if found necessary he would be quite willing to go into the question of Woman Suffrage.
1881 L. E. Barnard in E. C. Stanton et al. Hist. Woman Suffrage I. v. 98 In the winter of 1855, Mrs. Rose spoke in thirteen of the fifty-four County Conventions upon woman suffrage held in the State of New York.
1918 Times 10 Jan. 7/4 The House of Lords did not find it possible to confine their discussion of the woman suffrage clause of the Reform Bill to a single sitting.
2003 V. Scharff Twenty Thousand Roads 200 Hebard, like a number of other white women in the woman suffrage movement, saw Sacagawea as a symbol of women's leadership.
woman suffragist n. an advocate of or campaigner for women's suffrage; spec. a woman who seeks to achieve women's suffrage through organized protest; a suffragette.
ΘΚΠ
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] > advocacy of extension > one who > to women
suffragist1818
woman suffragist1871
suffragette1906
1871 Liverpool Mercury 3 Feb. 7/7 A young woman in the recent Ohio Convention of Woman Suffragists.
1908 Times 12 Feb. 10/3 A number of woman suffragists attempted to force their way into the House to present a petition in favour of the extension of the franchise to women to the Prime Minister.
2000 C. Stansell Amer. Moderns (2001) i. 52 His fiancée,..a Vassar graduate, teacher, and ardent woman suffragist.
woman surgeon n. a female surgeon.Quot. 1629 is explained by N.E.D. (1928) as ‘one who beautifies women by the aid of paints, washes, etc.’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > [noun] > one who beautifies > professionally
woman surgeon1629
beauty doctor1888
beauty culturist1889
beauty specialist1890
beautician1924
cosmetician1926
cosmetologist1926
visagiste1958
beauty therapist1962
aesthetician1965
1629 J. Ford Lovers Melancholy ii. 11 Pel. My nurse was a woman-surgeon... Rhet. A she-surgeon, which is in effect a meere matter of colours.
1868 Belfast News Let. 22 Apr. 1/3 In Orange, New Jersey, a woman surgeon returns her income at 15,000 dollars.
1914 Times 16 Feb. 11/6 (headline) Woman surgeon's appointment.
1998 J. Cassell Woman in Surgeon's Body (2000) ii. 24 I used the medical grapevine to locate senior woman surgeons and chief residents.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married man > [adjective] > relating to a husband > henpecked
wifish1607
woman-tireda1616
henpecked1660
wife-ridden1685
wife-bound1820
petticoat-governed1832
pussy-whipped1953
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) ii. iii. 75 Thou dotard, thou art woman-tyr'd: vnroosted By thy dame Partlet heere. View more context for this quotation
woman trouble n. colloquial (a) a difficulty or difficulties caused, typically to a man, by romantic or sexual involvement with a woman or women; (b) U.S. gynaecological problems (cf. trouble n. 4) (now somewhat archaic).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > [noun] > a difficulty > specific personal problem
woman trouble1889
clientitis1938
drink problem1977
trouble1981
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > reproductive organ disorders > [noun] > of female
woman trouble1889
1889 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. 43 413 ‘Revenge for what?’ said I. He answered, ‘Well, a woman trouble.’
1936 R. W. Tully & D. Belasco Rose of Rancho ii. 62 All inquire for her. The mother is telling lies—saying she is not dressed—perhaps not feeling well... Ah! woman trouble is bad—the first in our proud old family.
1967 J. Irwin Murderous Welcome vi. 51 She repudiated strongly any suggestion of discord between husband and wife and poured scorn on the mere idea of woman-trouble.
2002 H. Ritchie Friday Night Club (2003) ii. i. 111 It's got to be woman trouble... He'll turn up in a day or two with a story about being chased by some husband with a shotgun.
2007 S. Smoller Rachel & Aleks xvii. 146 ‘Gallstones,’ he said in heavily accented Polish, ‘maybe the appendix, maybe woman trouble.’
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adverb]
womanlyc1325
womanlikec1450
womanishly1556
woman-waysa1568
femalely1796
womanfully1819
femininely1821
women-wise1913
a1568 Bannatyne MS (Hunterian Club) 174 With welwet bordour abowt his threidbair coit, On woman-wayis weill toyit abowt his west.
1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes 2nd Pt. Don Quixote xli. 265 Clavileno will suffer no kinde of furniture nor trapping vpon him: you may doe well for your ease, to sit on him woman-wayes, so you will not feele his hardnesse so much.
woman-wise adv. in a manner considered characteristic of a woman or women (frequently depreciative); in the customary style of women; (also) as regards a woman or women.
ΚΠ
1641 W. Vaughan Sovles Exercise 92 He labour'd oft in Childing woman-wise Of our fraile Passions and infirmities.
1865 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta in Calydon 2308 This man Died woman-wise.
1885 R. Roberts Delivered from Afar vi. 103 She mounted her man's saddle womanwise again.
1952 B. Deutsch Poetry in Our Time iv. 106 Book One begins by..delineating the giant Paterson and the low mountain stretched womanwise beside him.
1998 Washington Post (Nexis) 19 July (Mag.) w27 Didn't I do the right thing, wifewise? Or did I do the wrong thing, womanwise?
woman-year n. a year of a woman's life as a unit of measurement, esp. in medical contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > year > [noun] > of a woman's life
woman-year1936
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > tests > [noun] > cumulative measure used in tests
woman-year1936
women-years1939
1936 Science 22 May 505/1 Total woman-years exposure to risk of pregnancy in the same age period, of women who actually became pregnant in that or some later period.
2003 J. Goedken & J. A. Rock in T. Tulandi Uterine Fibroids i. 1/2 The average annual rate of hospitalization associated with the diagnosis of fibroids..was 3.0 per 1000 woman-years.
C3.
woman's boat n. = women's boat n. at Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > vessels of primitive construction > [noun] > canoe of indigenous peoples > skin
kayak1767
women's boat1767
umiak1769
woman's boat1769
woman boat1831
bidarka1834
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine at Canoe In their language, the canoe is called kaiak, or man's boat, to distinguish it from Umiak, the woman's boat.
1871 I. I. Hayes Land of Desolation (1872) v. 49 A man will never pull an oar in a woman's boat... He has his own small boat, the handling of which requires skill, while the woman's boat requires none.
1990 L. Millman Last Places (2000) xi. 182 Lieutenant Gustav Holm of the Danish Navy rounded Cape Farewell in an umiaq, a woman's boat, and headed northeast into unknown regions.
woman's mag n. colloquial = woman's magazine n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journal > periodical > [noun] > other periodicals
annals1763
scientific journal1797
story paper1849
woman's magazine1868
woman's mag1887
house journal1912
film magazine1916
digest1922
fan magazine1928
pulp magazine1929
confession magazine1931
slick1934
glossy1945
trade1949
photonovel1967
1887 L. M. Alcott Jrnl. 1 May (1989) 299 Wrote on [sic] article for Womans Mag $100 for one column.
1944 Billboard 5 Feb. 11/3 Eve Hathaway, female editor of a woman's mag, who won't marry the man she's in love with.
1958 Observer 23 Feb. 14/2 The play..fools about at woman's-mag-whimsy level of moral convention.
1958 Observer 25 May 16/7 A Miss Lonelyhearts on a foundering woman's mag.
2008 Irish Independent (Nexis) 12 July (Features section) Every woman's mag had copied Cosmo. It was wall-to-wall orgasms and what you could do for your guy in bed.
woman's magazine n. = women's magazine n. at Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journal > periodical > [noun] > other periodicals
annals1763
scientific journal1797
story paper1849
woman's magazine1868
woman's mag1887
house journal1912
film magazine1916
digest1922
fan magazine1928
pulp magazine1929
confession magazine1931
slick1934
glossy1945
trade1949
photonovel1967
1868 N.Y. Teacher & Amer. Educ. Monthly 5 (advt.) It has quite as much claim to the title of a woman's magazine as the ‘Victoria Magazine’, and is full of thoughtful, practical papers, pleasantly written.
1944 U. Orange Company in Evening ii. 34 The woman's magazine short story market may be a footling one.
1958 Spectator 13 June 768/2 Ophelia's infatuated woman's magazine royalism rings with a specially hollow tinkle in Glen Byam Shaw's production of Hamlet.
1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 May 483/2 Without these pages of imaginative grace, the novel would be dangerously close to the woman's magazine level of romantic fiction with which it persistently flirts.
2005 M. Ruberg Writer's Digest Handbk. Mag. Article Writing 66 Once you land an assignment and get a clip from one woman's magazine, you're in.
woman's man n. a man who is more popular and at ease with women than with men, typically one who is physically attractive; a ladies' man, a gallant.
ΘΠ
the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [noun] > flirt > male flirt > ladies' man or philanderer
gallanta1450
dalliera1568
women's man1568
amorist1595
woman's man1597
lady-mongerc1600
dammaret1635
topgallant1701
agapet1736
ladies' man1764
Jack among the maids1785
philanderer1841
Romeo1902
tea-hound1921
bird dog1942
1597 N. Breton Wil of Wit f. 66 Nowe some will saye, oh, hee is a good Womans man: beleeue mee, I thinke it bette to bee thought, a good Womans man, then an ill mans Woman.
1693 W. Congreve Old Batchelour iv. iii. 38 Railing is the best qualification in a Woman's Man.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 156. ⁋1 The Woman's Man is a Person in his Air and Behaviour quite different from the rest of our Species.
1818 T. G. Fessenden Ladies Monitor 31 Nor will I sanction any plan T'annihilate your pretty woman's man.
1996 J. Updike In Beauty of Lilies 323 Gable was more engageable—a woman's man who had climbed up from Ohio's oil fields on a ladder of female sponsors.
woman's-meadwort n. see meadwort n. 2.
woman's movement n. = women's movement n. at Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to
womanism1850
women's movement1851
woman's movement1853
woman movement1854
feminism1895
women's liberation1898
the Movement1966
women's group1968
women's lib1969
society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] > movement promoting women's status
woman's movement1853
1853 Water-cure Jrnl. Oct. 91/2 Mr. Mann differs on some points from the prominent advocates of the Woman's Movement, but is, nevertheless, an honest and faithful laborer in the same cause.
1894 J. E. Schmahl in Englishwoman's Rev. 16 Apr. 90 For many years Maria Deraismes was looked upon as the sole and undisputed head of the woman's movement in France.
1974 Ebony June 34/1 The woman's movement is basically a white woman's movement.
2002 L. Y. Littleton & J. Engebretson Maternal, Neonatal, & Women's Health Nursing iv. xvii. 479/2 The woman's movement has helped give women more power in decision-making and the labor process.
woman's novel n. a novel written by a woman or that deals with themes perceived to be appealing to women.
Π
1853 C. H. Knox Confessions Country Quarters i. 20 It was a tolerably fair specimen of the usual woman's novel, in which all the female characters were saints, angels, and martyrs, and all the male monsters, heathen, and cannibals.
1953 Avalanche-Jrnl. (Lubbock, Texas) 23 Aug. iv. 13/2 This is a woman's novel, as only a woman could have written.
2002 Weekend Austral. (Brisbane) 12 Oct. (Review section) 13/2 Byatt has voiced her distaste for the so-called woman's novel, with its focus on personal relationships, and her preference for fiction animated by ideas.
woman's page n. = women's page n. at Compounds 5.
ΚΠ
1891 Writer Oct. 227/2 Mrs. Heaton has been editing the woman's page of the New York Recorder.
1914 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 325/1 The mere fact of a ‘woman's page’ fills me with scorn. Why not a ‘man's page’, with a miscellany of twaddle, labeled as exclusively, adapted to the masculine intellect?
1938 E. Waugh Scoop i. i. 15 Those carefree days when he had edited the Woman's Page.
2004 Independent (Nexis) 28 Oct. 41 In the 1960s, every newspaper had a woman's page, from Femail..in the Mail, to the huge and distinguished coverage of a wide range of issues in..The Guardian.
woman's place n. the position held by women in society; cf. a woman's place is in the home at Phrases 1f.
Π
1866 Boston Rev. Jan. 141 What is woman's place, and how shall she be educated?
1870 J. H. Fairchild Woman's Right to Ballot 37 The traditional ideas of society in reference to woman's place and work may hamper and restrain her.
2009 T. L. Stone Almost Astronauts vi. 54 The larger questions suddenly being put forth in articles, editorials, cartoons, and letters were, ‘What is a woman capable of?’ ‘What is a woman's place?’.
woman's poet n. a poet whose writings are considered suitable for or designed to appeal to women.
Π
a1637 B. Jonson Newes from New World 152 in Wks. (1640) III Chr. Is he a Mans Poet, or a Womans Poet I pray you? 2 He. Is there any such difference? Fac. Many, as betwixt your mans Taylor, and your womans Taylor.
1888 H. James Aspern Papers i. 5 He was not a woman's poet..in the modern phase of his reputation; but the situation had been different when the man's own voice was mingled with his song.
1986 S. Benstock Women of Left Bank ii. viii. 281 The recovery of Sappho as a woman's poet whose writings celebrated female love and friendship constituted an important lesbian feminist enterprise toward the end of the nineteenth century.
woman's refuge n. = women's refuge n. at Compounds 5.
Π
1830 Christian Watchman 10 Sept. 1/4 Another very important object connected with the Society was the Maritime Penitent Young Woman's Refuge.]
1875 Chicago Med. Jrnl. 32 480 (table) No. of deaths in..Woman's Refuge.
2005 P. D. Shelley Sugar & Spice iv. 69 Julia revealed that she had left Tony as a result of an assault by him and that..she had then gone to a woman's refuge.
woman's shelter n. = women's shelter n. at Compounds 5.
Π
1889 Proc. National Conf. Charities & Correction 16th Session 241 A sum amounting to about $120,000 has recently been left by the late Anthony Chabot for the establishment of a Woman's Shelter and Crèche.
1939 Arizona Republic 18 Oct. 2/6 The Salvation Army woman's shelter and camp were closed.
2007 R. P. Evans Gift 18 Get away from him. Take your girls and go to a woman's shelter if you have to.
woman's suffrage n. = women's suffrage n. at Compounds 5.
ΚΠ
1862 Spectator 24 May 569/1 The only man who seemed in spirits..was the advocate of woman's suffrage.
1910 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 82 President Taft, in a recent speech in Alabama, said that he would advocate woman's suffrage when all women wanted it.
2018 Edinb. Evening News (Nexis) 15 Sept. She has borne witness to radical changes in the world: woman's suffrage, 20 prime ministers, four monarchs, two world wars,..and so much more has unfolded in her 107 years.
woman's tailor n. a (usually male) tailor who makes clothes for women or whose clothes are designed to appeal to women.
ΚΠ
1592 ‘C. Cony-Catcher’ Def. Conny-catching sig. E In Yorkeshire there dwelt a womans Taylor famous for his Art, but noted for his filching.
1694 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: Pt. 2nd v. i. 51 Why, and please your Honour, my Name is Snip; I am a Woman's Taylor.
1844 R. F. Williams Secret Passion (1847) xxi. 140/1 Presently the woman's tailor made his appearance, and he and the bridegroom began jesting with each other.
1903 J. Davidson Knight of Maypole i. 5 He buys..eight yards of turquoise silk, and has the same made up to measure by Farwig, the woman's tailor of Mercer's Row.
1994 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 24 Nov. (Fashion section) 1 Even Armani, once known as a woman's tailor, put bras and underpants on display.
woman's trouble n. (also woman's troubles) = women's troubles n. at Compounds 5.
Π
1894 Amer. Lancet Feb. 80/2 In gynaecology the static machine furnishes most valuable auxiliary aid to galvanism, and single-handed will conquer a large percentage of woman's troubles.
1901 Puritan May (Advertising section) (advt.) Cures without drugs..rheumatism, woman's troubles, piles, obesity,..and nervous troubles.
1964 Mass. Rev. 5 505 Every time one of the girls was having her monthly woman's trouble everyone who worked in the restaurant..eventually got to know about it.
2004 L. Bagshawe Go-to Girl iii. 47 Woman's trouble doesn't last for two weeks every month, does it?
woman's woman n. a woman whose qualities are appreciated by women, a woman who is popular with other women (cf. man's man n. at man n.1 Compounds 3).
ΘΠ
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
1868 Littell's Living Age 11 July 128/1 Linda Tressel seems to us to be altogether a woman's woman.
1923 G. Atherton Black Oxen xl. 246 She had never been a ‘woman's woman’, and it was patent that, as ever, she was far more animated in the company of men.
2008 K. M. McCusker Lonesome Cowgirls & Honky-tonk Angels 148 Lynn was a woman's woman..who sang about real life, not a fictional character whose idealized world bore little resemblance to her listeners' daily lives.
woman's work n. = women's work n. at Compounds 5.Cf. a woman's work is never done at Phrases 1d.
ΘΠ
society > occupation and work > work > [noun] > women's work
distaffc1386
woman's work1890
kitchen sink1926
kinder, kirche, küche1935
a1450 Mandeville's Trav. (Bodl. e Mus.) 141 (MED) Whan they werkyn the manys werk, they getyn childeryn, and they that werkyn the womanys werk, they beryn chylderyn.
1680 R. Baxter Nonconformists Advocate 76 The humility reported of Raguel his mother, in taking woman's work to do.
1797 S. J. Pratt Family Secrets V. xiii. 108 All this is woman's work you know, Sir. I am but an aukward chamber-man.
1890 A. J. Armstrong Ingleside Musings 139 Thae bairns are just a woman's wark To keep them clean an' tidy.
1913 E. Ferber Roast Beef Medium ix. 258 I'm tired of hearing you men say that this and that and the other isn't woman's work. Any work is woman's work that a woman can do well.
1971 K. Millett Sexual Politics (1972) i. ii. 39 The ‘woman's work’ in which some two thirds of female population..are engaged is work that is not paid for.
2008 Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News (Nexis) 10 Sept. b5 Is the assumption that..[he] is not capable of raising his family as well as Sarah? Or that raising a family is only woman's work?
C4. Compounds with women.Many of the following compounds may also be found with the singular form woman; see Compounds 2.
a. Appositive in the plurals of compounds with woman (see Compounds 1b(a) and woman servant n.), as women doctors, women drivers, women friends, women officers, women priests, women teachers, etc.
Π
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 2 Kings xix. 35 I mai heeryn..þe voice of men syngeris & of wymmen syngeris.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 2672 Þat ilke lym quar-with þat þai er kend fra wimmen kith.
in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Harl. 642) (1790) 125 The woemen officers for to receave it in the chamber.
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. III. v. viii. sig. Pppp.vj/1 There is in the Church an order of women ministers called women-deacons.
1588 T. Kyd tr. T. Tasso Housholders Philos. f. 21 Homer, who..brought Penelope and Circes in ye number of women weauers.
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 451 We were, and are called the true louing women friends, a rare matter (as men say) to bee found amongst vs.
1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman i. 11 Women Doctors (of whom for the most part there is more danger, then of the worst disease it selfe).
a1652 R. Brome Court Begger v. ii. sig. S2v, in Five New Playes (1653) Women-Actors now grow in request.
1661 I. Walton Compl. Angler (ed. 3) xviii. 233 A Sticklebag..is good..only to make sport for boyes and women-Anglers.
1709 J. Johnson Clergy-man's Vade Mecum: Pt. II 99 Priestesses or women-presidents are not to be constituted in the church.
1771 Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797) III. 226 A parcel of women-relations.
1785 Bk. of Discipline New Eng. Yearly Meeting Soc. of Friends 39 That each monthly meeting choose two or more sober and judicious men friends, and two or more women friends.
1802 C. Findlater Gen. View Agric. County of Peebles 209 [The peat] is taken up by the women wheelers (hurlers)..Two hurlers commonly suffice to spread the peat dug by one man.
1859 E. F. Ellet (title) Women artists.
1869 G. Butler in J. E. G. Butler Woman's Work & Woman's Culture iii. 54 Women teachers are, as a class, suffering from want of adequate salaries.
1878 Harper's Mag. Mar. 602/2 The established physicians shook their heads. They never believed in ‘women doctors’.
1898 Daily News 2 Dec. 5/1 The Guild of Women-Binders.
1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace xi. 63 A strong sex-bias which had persuaded him that women-drivers were capable of any enormity.
1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night vii. 147 There are much better ways of enjoying Oxford than fooling round..with the women students.
1971 Guardian 15 Apr. 11/1 The diocese of Hong Kong, the only diocese out of 300 to have stated openly its support for the ordination of women priests.
1981 ‘J. Ross’ Dark Blue & Dangerous iv. 22 Did he have friends? Women friends?
1999 Independent 6 Aug. i. 9/2 Problems faced by women officers who need to wear stab and bullet-resistant protective vests, which are shaped to fit men.
2003 Marie Claire Dec. (Key to Opposite Sex insert between pp. 274–275) 4/2 Women drivers are less likely to have points on their licence than male drivers.
b. Objective and instrumental, corresponding to uses at Compounds 1c, Compounds 1d, Compounds 2. Earliest in woman-hater n., woman-hating adj.
Π
1614 R. Niccols Vertves Encomivm i, in Furies That women-hating madmen, that of late Haue lost their wits.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison IV. xxxvi. 253 These women-frightening heroes.
1844 G. W. Kendall Narr. Texan Sante Fé Exped. II. xvii. 343 They are a class of enlightened, generous,..women-loving men.
1856 ‘C. Bede’ Tales College Life x The Morning Post..devoted..half a column to these women-absorbing topics.
1896 Daily News 26 Dec. 2/2 A nation of women-supported men.
1934 D. Thomas Coll. Lett. (1987) 161 Ghouls, vampires, women-rippers, deflowerers of weeny infants, warted soaks, pimps, and financiers pass by the window..in a dream.
1992 Utne Reader Jan. 34/1 So how is women-created music different from the ‘norm’?
2006 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 12 Nov. (Business section) 16/3 Figures show that 700,000 women-owned UK businesses are paying more than necessary for credit.
c. † women-sleeper n. Obsolete rare a female nurse.† women-striker n. Obsolete a female prostitute (see striker n. 2d).
women-grown adj. now rare = woman-grown adj. at Compounds 2.Only with plural nouns.
ΚΠ
1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 218 [He] kissed my Hand five or six times, as if he was mad... And all this before Daughters Women-grown!
1894 Teachers World Jan. 177/2 When we're women grown, What e'er we do, we'll do it well.
1996 M. F. Suarez in A. J. Rivero New Ess. Samuel Richardson v. 75 Anna and Clarissa, whom Mrs. Howe calls ‘women-grown girls’.
women-house n. now rare a building inhabited by women; Scottish one serving as accommodation for female workers (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > types of house > [noun] > houses occupied by specific types of people
grass house1557
woman-house1566
fishing-house1676
family house1727
henhouse1785
women-house1792
bachelor('s) hall1841
bachelor-apartment1857
garçonnière1927
bachelor1968
bachelorette1973
pit house1974
squat1975
1792 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. II. 149 At these [bleach-]fields,..there are a number of women not having families, nor residing in families, but in women-houses, so called, erected on purpose.
c1865 J. Shaw in R. Wallace Country Schoolmaster (1899) 154 Large central buildings of the public works called ‘women-houses’.
a1894 J. Shaw in R. Wallace Country Schoolmaster (1899) ii. 154 The prisonlike incarceration of them in large central buildings of the public works called ‘women-houses’.
1916 W. Churchill Sissano ii. 14 In Sissano the corpses of men and women are buried under the women houses, never under the men houses.
women liberator n. an advocate or supporter of women's liberation; = women's liberationist n. at women's liberation n. Derivatives.
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to > advocate or supporter of
sister1792
-righter1854
woman's righter1854
new woman1865
woman's rightist1869
women's righter1870
femininist1873
women's rightist1875
liberationist1879
emancipatress1882
feminist1887
freewoman1895
equal righter1896
womanist1902
women liberator1969
women's libber1970
libber1971
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to > advocate or supporter of > collectively
new womandom1894
women liberator1969
1969 Time 21 Nov. 53 Women Liberators at Atlantic City.
1999 Hindu (Nexis) 1 Aug. We do try to emancipate women from their oppressed conditions but we are not women liberators. We are basically devotees.
women-matters n. matters relating to women.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > women's matters
womanshire1606
women-mattersa1637
a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady iv. vii. 40 in Wks. (1640) III Keepe these women-matters..in our owne verge.
1847 J. M. Field Drama in Pokerville 41 [He] never troubled himself about the women-matters in the theatre.
2002 tr. S. George in R. E. Norton Secret Germany iii. xxxiv. 540 I have to speak with you next time at some length about women-matters.
women-men n. men who are effeminate, homosexual, transvestite, or transsexual; men with female qualities or attributes.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > man > [noun] > effeminate man > collectively
effeminate1548
women-men1864
1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. II. xxxvi. 278 Are there men-women and women-men?..have we changed parts to-night?
1908 M. E. Paul tr. I. Bloch Sexual Life of our Times xx. 545 With regard to numerous historical women-men and men-women..it is, as a rule, no longer possible to determine whether they were genuinely homosexual, pseudo-homosexual, or bisexual.
2002 H. Kunzru Impressionist (2003) 72 Pran has seen hijras. They are frightening women-men who dance outside weddings, banging drums and mocking the guests as they go in and out.
women-only adj. designating a place, event, etc., restricted to women.
Π
1902 Rep. Commissioner of Educ. II. in Ann Rep. U.S. Dept. Interior 1901 xxviii. 1238 (table) Women only.]
1920 Lyre of Alpha Chi Omega July 216 This is a ‘women only’ affair and one furnishing great amusement.
1974 Ebony Oct. 122/1 Company officials..attempted to curtain off part of the locker-room facilities and install a women-only shower.
2007 S. Coffman Successful Programs for Fitness & Health Clubs iv. 52/1 If you are a women-only club, or are promoting a women's weight training class, use pictures of women working out with free weights and spotting one another.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > nurse > [noun] > female
woman keeper1580
women-sleeper1630
1630 London looke Back sig. B3v When the Bell hath ceast tolling for thee, and thy Women-sleepers leaue gaping for thy Linnen.
ΘΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute > collectively or as a class
sisters of the Bank1548
boiled stuffa1616
women-striker1665
1665 M. Nedham Medela Medicinæ 73 [Zacutus] hardly grants any possibility of Women-strikers escaping [pox].
women suffrage n. = women's suffrage n. at Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
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
1846 Northern Star & National Trades Jrnl. 14 Mar. 1/1 Existing conventional arrangements forbid our advocacy of women suffrage.
1911 Z. Gale Mothers to Men xii. 284 ‘I hope, Calliope,’ said Postmaster Silas Sykes to me, ‘that you ain't in favour of women suffrage.’
1994 R. Darcy et al. Women, Elections & Representation (ed. 2) i. 10 Legislatures, meanwhile, were confronting the well-organized women suffrage movement.
women-whipper n. U.S. (now rare) a person who is physically abusive to women; used esp. as a term of abuse for a slave-owner.
ΚΠ
1836 Liberator 6 Feb. 24/4 The extreme sensitiveness and fine delicacy of the southern men-plunderers and women-whippers.
1844 W. Goodell Views of Amer. Constit. Law iii. 116 Is it ‘domestic violence’ to run away from women-whippers and babe-stealers?
1872 W. Denton Radical Disc. Relig. Subj. 330 Merchants defending the practices, that they might obtain the custom of the women-whippers and baby-stealers.
1921 Evening Republican (Mitchell, S. Dakota) 1 Aug. 1/2 (headline) South wars on women whippers.
women-wise adv. in the manner of women; with regard to women.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adverb]
womanlyc1325
womanlikec1450
womanishly1556
woman-waysa1568
femalely1796
womanfully1819
femininely1821
women-wise1913
1913 G. D. Boylan Supplanter xvii. 285 We were sewing and talking, womenwise, on the veranda of her house.
2006 Grand Forks (N. Dakota) Herald (Nexis) 22 June Here's a rundown of how lucky Sandler has been in the movies, womenwise.
women-years n. = woman-year n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > tests > [noun] > cumulative measure used in tests
woman-year1936
women-years1939
1939 R. Pearl Nat. Hist. Population ii. 39 His ‘coefficient of fecundity’ is obtained by dividing the number of conceptions by the number of women-years of exposure to risk of conception, both taken after two years of married life.
1999 R. Westheimer Dr. Ruth's Pregnancy Guide for Couples 229 The failure rate for male condoms is 2 to 20 per 100 women years.
C5. Compounds with women's.Many of the following compounds may also be found with the singular genitive form woman's; see Compounds 3.† women's evil n. Obsolete rare = menstruation n.† women's house n. Scottish Obsolete = women-house n. at Compounds 4c.† women's-kins n. Obsolete the female sex, women.
women's boat n. a light open wooden-framed boat covered with animal skin, used primarily by the Inuit to convey people and goods and traditionally rowed by women; an umiak.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > vessels of primitive construction > [noun] > canoe of indigenous peoples > skin
kayak1767
women's boat1767
umiak1769
woman's boat1769
woman boat1831
bidarka1834
1767 tr. D. Cranz Hist. Greenland I. iii. vi. 191 When a man dies, his eldest son inherits his tent and his women's-boat, that is, the paternal estate.
1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery p. xxx They had made a three years excursion along the eastern coast in a women's-boat.
1990 S. Harrison Mother Earth Father Sky i. i. 10 She and Chagak carried their women's boat, an open-topped ik, framed with driftweed, sheathed in sea lion hides, to the edge of the sea.
women's college n. (in North America) a university or (in the United Kingdom) a college (at Cambridge, Oxford, etc.) that admits only women as students; cf. seven sisters n. 5.In the United Kingdom most such colleges became co-educational in the late 20th cent., with a few exceptions, notably Newnham College, Cambridge.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > place of education > college or university > [noun] > university > college of
house1527
women's college1867
1867 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 22 Nov. (1956) IV. 401 There is a scheme on foot for a women's college, or rather university..to be in connection with the Cambridge university.
1897 Q. Rev. Oct. 547 The existing women's colleges, Newnham, Girton, Somerville, and the rest; might combine to form a federal University.
1912 Outlook 19 Oct. 363/2 Bryn Mawr (1885) originated the ‘group system’ of major and minor studies, now in use in most women's colleges.
1984 ‘A. Cross’ Sweet Death, Kind Death xi. 129 Can you offer me one reason for women's colleges these days?
2003 U.S. Catholic (Nexis) 1 Sept. 24 Girls' schools and women's colleges, compared to coeducational environments..lead to higher percentages of Ph.D. attainments.
women's courses n. now rare and chiefly historical = menses n. Cf. course n. 24.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > menses > [noun]
monthlyeOE
menstruuma1398
flowerc1400
menstrue?a1425
women's evilc1450
menstruosity1503
courses1563
monthly time1564
reds1568
month courses1574
purgation1577
women's courses1577
month1578
menses1597
menstruals1598
flourish1606
nature1607
fluors1621
mois1662
period1690
catamenia1764
turn1819
visitor1980
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iv. f. 192v Motherwort..killeth Woormes in the body, openeth cold obstructions, prouoketh Urine, and womens Courses.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 62 Where wee apply cupping glasses to bring down womens courses.
1770 C. Milne Bot. Dict. sig. E2v/2 Officinal Sopewort..provokes women's courses.
1867 E. P. Brown Compl. Herbalist 31 Alexander..is an herb of Jupiter and therefore friendly to nature..removing obstruction of the liver, spleen, kidneys, bladder, etc., flatulency, stranguary, and to move women's courses.
2005 C. Gibb Sweetness in Belly (2006) i. 88 Certain parts he was more comfortable skimming over—the whole matter of women's courses, for instance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > menses > [noun]
monthlyeOE
menstruuma1398
flowerc1400
menstrue?a1425
women's evilc1450
menstruosity1503
courses1563
monthly time1564
reds1568
month courses1574
purgation1577
women's courses1577
month1578
menses1597
menstruals1598
flourish1606
nature1607
fluors1621
mois1662
period1690
catamenia1764
turn1819
visitor1980
c1450 ( H. Daniel Liber Uricrisiarum (Gloucester Cathedral 19) No. 1 f. 2v, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Womman Menstrua, In Englyssh wymmens yvell.
women's fiction n. fiction written by or for women, esp. as exemplifying themes or ideas perceived to be of interest to women.
Π
1902 Dietetic & Hygienic Gaz. Jan. 58/2 If the husband in women's fiction continues to go from bad to worse, as rapidly as he has been doing of late years, he bids fair to soon occupy the place once held by the eighteenth century villain.
1984 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 6 Apr. b3 Today all women's fiction begins where Middlemarch's Dorothea Brooke left off: contemplating the conjunctions of the private and public self, grappling with the social responsibilities inherent in both.
1998 Independent 18 May i. 17 (heading) Awards such as the Orange Prize for women's fiction create a ghetto mentality, its critics carp.
women's group n. any of various groups formed to protect the interests of women or discuss political issues relating to women; (also) a local group of women who meet regularly to provide mutual support.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > types of association, society, or organization > [noun] > an association of women
sorosis1869
sorority1900
women's group1968
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to
womanism1850
women's movement1851
woman's movement1853
woman movement1854
feminism1895
women's liberation1898
the Movement1966
women's group1968
women's lib1969
1968 Ramparts May 8 Your attitude was condescending throughout, and your analysis of radical women's groups..amounted to a movement fashion report.
1989 T. Parker Place called Bird v. 59 In Seattle I was a member of a women's group, mothers protesting nuclear weapons, handing out leaflets and organising discussion evenings, that sort of thing.
1996 C. J. Ireson Field, Forest, & Family p. xxiii I would never have completed Field, Forest, and Family without the emotional strength and spiritual power of my women's group.
2009 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 23 Sept. 9 There was immediate criticism from women's groups.
ΚΠ
1842 Observer 3 Apr. 3/6 The majority of the individuals employed are women, and upwards of 150 of them are lodged in a large building called the ‘women's house’, the upper rooms of which are dormitories, and the ground-floor..used by the workers when taking their meals.
1876 Rep. Commissioners Working of Factory & Workshop Acts I. App. I. 236/1 As to morality of women, not so bad as described; ignorant Irish girls compare favourably with native women; women's houses advantageous.
Women's Institute n. an organization of women, especially in rural areas, who meet regularly and participate in crafts, cultural activities, and social work; (cf. Women's Rural Institute n.); abbreviated W.I.The organization was first set up in Ontario, Canada, in 1897 and in Britain in 1915; it now has branches worldwide.
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > specific societies or organizations > [noun] > specific women's organizations
Ladies' Aid Society1842
mothers' meeting1865
Mothers' Union1888
Women's Institute1897
W.S.P.U.1907
Soroptimist Club1921
rural1925
Rural Institute1925
W.I.Z.O.1925
W.I.1928
W.V.S.1939
Black Sash1955
W.R.V.S.1966
1897 Rep. Farmers' Inst. of Ont. p. xl The First Women's Institute has been formed in Wentworth South, in connection with the Farmers' Institute in that district.
1912 Rep. Farm & Agric. Schools & Colleges in France, Germany, & Belgium (Board of Educ.) 20 The success which has followed the formation of Women's Institutes in Poland, the United States, and Canada incited some social and agricultural reformers in Belgium to organise similar means of education.
1934 D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors 347 Breakfast..was distributed..by members of the Women's Institute.
2009 Yeovil Express (Nexis) 14 Jan. Women's Institute groups across Somerset are calling for help from women..to highlight the effects of violence against women in the U.K.
women's issue n. (a) an edition of a newspaper, magazine, etc., produced for women or by women; (b) a topic perceived to be of particular interest or relevance to women.
Π
1903 Semi-weekly Cedar Falls (Iowa) Gaz. 4 Sept. 4/2 Women have gone too far into the world in general to be satisfied with less than the best in newspaper writeups and if she had a dozen women's issues at hand she would not know for certain that they were reliable.
1922 Biddeford (Maine) Daily Jrnl. 10 Mar. 4/4 It will only be when women represent a cause unusually popular with women and particularly as a women's issue that women candidates will show much strength.
1973 Feminist Stud. 1 113 Since women suffered disproportionately from any inadequacy in the family's budget, temperance appears, in fact, to have been a women's issue.
1996 Sunday Tel. 13 Oct. (Review section) 6/6 The catalyst for her leaving the New Yorker was last year's women's issue, guest-edited by the comedienne Rosanne Barr.
2006 Arena Oct. 138/2 She was very left-wing, not mung beans or anything, but really into women's issues, you know.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective]
femalea1382
womanisha1393
faira1450
women's-kinsc1450
feminatea1533
womankind?c1570
womenkind1571
sex1700
mollyish1801
petticoated1824
femme1925
c1450 tr. G. Boccaccio De Claris Mulieribus (1924) l. 1778 (MED) Make no boste ageyns Quene Arthemyse, Lest womanskyns bere awey the pryse!
1534 Will of Sir William Butler (P.R.O.: PROB. 11/25) f. 62v Euerye of my seruauntes as well menskynes as womenskynnes.
women's mag n. colloquial = women's magazine n.
ΚΠ
1945 Billboard 21 July 13/3 Based..on material from the pages of Mademoiselle, slick women's mag.
1958 A. Wilson Middle Age of Mrs Eliot ii. 271 It would be so awful to have one of those office affaires that they have in the women's mags.
1973 N.Y. Mag. 17 Dec. 98/2 Lelouch..hit the big time..with A Man and a Woman, that very classy women's-mag soaper.
2003 D. Martin Body Check ii. 22 They're both single, good-looking guys... Get them some ink in a women's mag.
women's magazine n. a magazine designed primarily for women; also (chiefly in attributive use) depreciative, implying superficiality or stereotyping.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > superficial knowledge > [adjective] > of knowledge, etc.: superficial
superficial1559
shallowc1595
superficiary1605
women's magazine1921
1874 Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star 27 Oct. 674/2 In spite of mothers' meetings, women's magazines and journals,..the ignorance of the lower and middle classes of women is immense.
1921 in J. Wick Stories Editors buy & Why 35 674/2 Nor need all women's magazine stories have to do with the abuse of the sacrificial mother or the efforts of an orphan stenographer alone in a great city.
1960 K. Amis New Maps of Hell iii. 81 Art is mentioned..with a frequency not even paralleled in women's-magazine stories.
1976 A. S. Byatt in New Statesman 23 Apr. 541/2 A mixture of euphoria, lists of social, publishing and academic successes, and a women's magazine self-examination for signs of ‘maturity’.
1985 L. Lochhead True Confessions 134 The oh-so Good Advice in them Women's Magazines.
2006 P. Williams Rise & Fall Yummy Mummy xi. 94 That's the worst, pat, women's magazine answer I've ever heard.
women's man n. = woman's man n. at Compounds 3.
ΘΠ
the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [noun] > flirt > male flirt > ladies' man or philanderer
gallanta1450
dalliera1568
women's man1568
amorist1595
woman's man1597
lady-mongerc1600
dammaret1635
topgallant1701
agapet1736
ladies' man1764
Jack among the maids1785
philanderer1841
Romeo1902
tea-hound1921
bird dog1942
1568 T. Drant tr. Gregory of Nazianzus Epigr. & Sentences sig. C.v Ye womens men aright. To squire them vp and downe.
1680 Earl of Rochester Let. from Artemiza in Town 3 Though all mankinde Perceives us false, the Fop concern'd is blinde; Who doating on himself—Thinks every one that sees him, of his minde. These are true womens men.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 536. ¶2 That part of Mankind who are known by the Name of the Womens-Men or Beaus.
1857 Trial Charles B. Huntington 251 He said he had a reputation for being a great women's man, but he said that he was not so.
1916 W. L. George Strangers' Wedding iii. iii. 324 She did not realise that this women's man had at once gauged her, assumed her tastes to please her.
1986 J. V. Crewe Hidden Designs v. 123 Sidney disappears in to a gentlemanly ruck..of women's men in which some seem to be actual noblemen and some not.., some important poets and some not, [etc.].
women's movement n. the movement for the recognition and extension of women's rights; spec. (frequently with capital initials) the Women's Liberation Movement (see women's liberation n.); a particular group belonging to this.Women's suffrage was the main goal of the movement in its early years.
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to
womanism1850
women's movement1851
woman's movement1853
woman movement1854
feminism1895
women's liberation1898
the Movement1966
women's group1968
women's lib1969
1851 Amer. Whig Rev. Sept. 222/1 Carlyle, too, who anticipated the American women's movement, knew well its dire effect.
1872 B. Taylor Beauty & Beast 314 We—the leaders of the Women's Movement—did not rest until we had exacted the same pledge from all the candidates of both parties.
1902 H. Blackburn Women's Suffrage vi. 107 The Married Women's Property Bill occupied the main attention of those engaged in the women's movement.
1944 G. Myrdal Amer. Dilemma App. 5 The women's movement got much of its public support by reason of its affiliation with the Abolitionist movement.
1968 Ramparts Feb. 31 The most active of the new radical women's movements is in Berkeley—which should surprise no one.
1985 Observer 14 Apr. (Colour Suppl.) 18/3 She champions women who simply want to stay at home with their babies without a lot of pressure from the women's movement.
2009 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 9 Apr. 7/3 (advt.) Honor Moore presents a first-of-its kind collection of the unforgettable poetry that inspired, and was inspired by, the Women's Movement of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
women's novel n. = woman's novel n. at Compounds 3.
Π
1851 Internat. Mag. Lit., Art, & Sci. July 178/2 A critic..takes occasion to give some hard hits at women's novels in general.
1969 Rev. Eng. Stud. 20 508 There follows a historical view of the phases of the women's novel, in which changes of fashion, notably the Gothic and ‘philosophic’ developments, are seen as essentially superficial diversifications of an identical substance, derived from Richardson, from sentimental comedy, and from the heroic romances which M. Séjourné thinks women continued to read after men had dismissed them.
2010 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 21 Mar. e6 If anyone's going to perk up the often-limp niceness of the women's novel it's Shriver, who has no use for earth mothers or noble victims.
women's page n. a page of a newspaper devoted to topics considered of special interest to women.
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society > communication > journalism > journal > parts and layout of journals > [noun] > other sections or columns
Poets' Corner1733
situations wanted1809
situations vacant1819
feuilleton1845
roman feuilleton1845
home page1860
personal1860
society page1883
City page1893
women's page1893
book page1898
ear1901
film guide1918
op-ed1931
masthead1934
magazine section1941
write-in1947
listings1971
1893 Arrow July 132 At present such information must be gleaned from various magazines and women's pages of the papers.
1929 E. Linklater Poet's Pub xiii. 154 She had had two or three articles accepted for the women's page of the Daily Day.
1980 M. Babson Dangerous to Know i. 8 There weren't all that many openings for Women's Page Editors around the Street these days.
2009 Guardian (Nexis) 4 Sept. 20 The women's pages want your comments. Tell us who your favourite female songwriter is.
women's refuge n. an establishment providing shelter for vulnerable women; (in later use) esp. one offering protection to women at risk from domestic violence.
Π
1849 Times 1 Feb. 4/6 There was no institution which could replace the women's refuge if it were abolished.
1898 Econ. Jrnl. 8 139 The inmates also did all the washing for the whole of the women's Refuges.
1982 Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica 148 103 It is an important task of the responsible accident surgeon both to detect battering as the cause of injuries and to act as mediator in contacting a women's refuge or other social assistance agency.
2003 S. Benjamin I am now without my Daughter viii. 23 They told him why Teresa was there and that she was to be taken to a women's refuge.
women's room n. U.S. a public toilet or washroom for women; = ladies n.Originally this was often accommodated within a larger public room set aside for women such as a waiting room at a railway station.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > privy or latrine > [noun] > water-closet or lavatory > public > women's
ladies' room1825
ladies' cloakroom1862
ladies1918
women's room1918
powder room1927
1918 Monthly Labor Rev. May 16 Women were expected to use the toilet provided for the general public... Plans have been made for a women's room at this station.
1927 Amer. Speech 2 278/1 Rest room, women's room.
1937 Life 22 Mar. 65/3 A female juror..hid a pint of straight alcohol in the women's room.
2001 J. Franzen Corrections 356 She was in the women's room..when she heard Armour and Lamar outside the bathroom door by the drinking fountain.
Women's Rural Institute n. Scottish (another name for) the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes (SWRI), the Scottish counterpart of the Women's Institute, which aims in particular to promote and preserve Scottish customs and heritage; any of various local organizations belonging to this; see Rural Institute n. at rural adj. and n. Compounds 2.The SWRI was founded in 1917 at Longniddry, East Lothian.
ΚΠ
1918 Sixth Rep. Board Agric. Scotl. p. vii Miss..Campbell..was appointed Organiser in connection with the inauguration of Women's Rural Institutes in Scotland.
1940 ‘O. Douglas’ House that is our Own viii. 82 ‘She takes to do wi' the Nursing and the Rural.’ ‘The Rural?’ ‘Aye, ye ken, Women's Rural Institute.’
2007 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) (Nexis) 27 Sept. 3 A coffee morning will be held this Saturday by the Forglen Women's Rural Institute to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.
women's shelter n. = women's refuge n.
Π
1879 Christian Week 3 Dec. 148/2 The next department was the Women's Shelter. It was the only one in the city which embraced that part of the work known as preventive.
1933 Times 11 Apr. 11/7 Twenty-four persons have followed the Queen's example of endowing a room in the Salvation Army new women's shelter in Whitechapel.
2007 N. Jackson Yada Yada Prayer Group get Rolling iii. 21 I never imagined that I would end up in a women's shelter. But I never imagined I'd be afraid of my husband.
women's studies n. originally U.S. academic courses in sociology, history, literature, and psychology which focus on the roles, experiences, and achievements of women in society.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > study of society > [noun] > other branches
social history1814
social geography1828
social dynamics1843
social statics1843
socio-economics1893
genetics1896
biosociology1897
social engineering1899
social morphology1899
psychosociology1902
socionomics1902
political sociology1905
sociobiology1912
social planning1913
social constructionist1925
futurology1946
sociobiology1946
structural anthropology1950
squalorology1961
proxemics1963
future research1969
women's studies1969
future study1971
social constructionism1976
social constructivism1981
the world > people > science of mankind > [noun] > anthropology > study of woman
gynaecology1885
women's studies1969
1969 College Composition & Communication 20 265/1 We urge that CCCC and NCTE work to include preparation for student teachers which will lead to black studies for black students, working class studies for working class students, women's studies, etc.
1972 Newsweek 10 Dec. 124/3 ‘Women's studies’ was nearly unknown before 1970; now 78 institutions have complete women's studies programs.
2004 Z. Unger Working Fire x. 155 Twenty-five years teaching women's studies..and now her son is wolf-whistling at chicks from the backseat of a fire engine.
women's suffrage n. (also with capital initial) the right of women to vote in political elections; frequently attributive.In the United Kingdom, women over the age of 30 were granted the right to vote in 1918 and gained equal voting rights to men 10 years later. In the United States, sex-based restriction of voting rights was prohibited in 1920, with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution.
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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
1842 People's Democratic Guide I. Index p. viii Young Women's Suffrage Association.]
1868 Times 11 May 10/4 A branch of the National Society for Women's Suffrage.
1870 M. G. Fawcett in Fortnightly 1 May 623 Another argument..urged against women's suffrage is, that a woman is so easily influenced, that if she had a vote it would practically have the same effect as giving two votes to her nearest male relation.
1918 Times 11 Feb. 3/6 Services of thanksgiving for the granting of the vote to women were held yesterday..by the Church League for Women's Suffrage.
1991 M. Mackie Gender Relations Canada viii. 219/1 Women's organizations as the Women's Christian Temperance Union played an important role in the Women's Suffrage Movement.
2002 Time 1 Apr. 62/1 Today..we have both chocolate martinis and women's suffrage, ‘grrrl power’ and a variety of tasty wine.
women's tee n. Golf a tee placed ahead of the standard tee position, intended for use by female players; cf. men's tee n. at man n.1 Compounds 5.
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1900 Smart Set 2 119 Creech had suggested that he might better drive from the women's tee, for which Wickham would gladly have punched the Champion's nose.
1931 Salt Lake Tribune 19 Aug. 15/2 On No. 11, the women's tee is 75 yards nearer the green.
2009 Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa) (Nexis) 6 Sept. Playing from the women's tees, which play at 112 yards, Briggs hit a perfect shot which appeared headed straight for the pin.
women's troubles n. euphemistic ailments suffered by women; spec. gynaecological ailments (also in singular).
ΚΠ
1884 Med. Age 10 Nov. 324/2 Neither have for years come specially under the writer's notice (except so far as disturbances with their sex are inseparable from women's troubles).
1910 Amer. Anthropologist 12 655/1 The shrine being reputed helpful for women's troubles and diseases.
1978 D. A. Stanwood Memory of Eva Ryker xxi. 198 ‘She told the boss..that she had to go home. Menstrual cramps was the standard excuse’... ‘Men are so terrified of women's trouble. He always let her go, like she was carrying the plague.’
2006 F. Kiernan & G. Hemphill Still Game: Scripts I. iii. 95 I wis at the doctor's this morning—women's troubles.
women's work n. work done by women; work, esp. of a domestic nature, traditionally done by women or considered suitable for women; frequently depreciative, with reference to tasks that involve little skill or intelligence.
ΚΠ
1620 T. Middleton Courtly Masque sig. C Cuckolds, make Cuckolds, 'tis a pretty trade In a peacefull Citty; 'tis womens worke, man, And they are good pay-masters.
1704 T. D'Urfey Tales 276 She told him 'twas not Women's work The Husbands Actions to remark.
1836 C. M. Sedgwick Poor Rich Man & Rich Poor Man xii. 117 ‘You say, Harry,’ interposed Mrs. Aikin, ‘that it is women's work to teach manners to the children; but, don't you think they learn them mostly from example?’
1977 Undercurrents June 41/3 Spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, sewing are women's work and are called crafts.
2004 Independent 27 Oct. 30/4 The wage gap will not be..eliminated, until those jobs that are regarded as ‘women's work’ are valued as highly as those done by men—and paid accordingly.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
womanv.
/ˈwʊmən/, U.S. /ˈwʊmən/ 1.
a. transitive. To make womanly (in various senses); to cause to be or behave as a woman. Also with up.In quot. 1611: to take the virginity of; to deflower.
ΘΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > female > effeminacy > [verb (transitive)]
effeminate1531
womanish1561
feminine1583
womanizea1586
hermaphroditize1598
unman1599
woman1611
smock1614
effeminizec1616
evirate1627
disman1628
lady1656
emolliate1802
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > virginity > [verb (transitive)] > take the virginity of
deflowera1382
depucel1440
defloratec1470
deflourisha1513
unmaiden?1577
devirginate1583
dismaiden1603
depucelate1611
disvirgin1611
woman1611
unmaid1637
unvirgin1638
society > authority > subjection > subjecting or subjugation > subject [verb (transitive)] > make submissive
stoopc1275
to lead by the sleevec1425
to lead by the nose1583
subdue1598
woman1611
melt1668
to make a woman of1742
1611 T. Heywood Golden Age iii. sig. G1v I woman'd first Calisto, and made thee A grand-father.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iii. ii. 51 I haue felt so many quirkes of ioy and greefe, That the first face of neither on the start Can woman me vntoo't. View more context for this quotation
1849 T. A. Buckley tr. Sophocles Tragedies (new ed.) 260 For I, too, that lately was so firm in my dread purpose..by this my wife here, have been womaned in my speech.
1873 E. J. Brennan Witch of Nemi 142 Her, who, in shewing thee her heart, unbound The sore oppressing chains that womaned her.
1913 M. Sinclair Combined Maze xxvi. 288 ‘Why, you should have taken a stick to her.’.. ‘Well, really, Mr. Usher, I suppose I couldn't forget she was a woman.’ ‘Woman? Woman? I'd 'a' womaned 'er!’
1988 I. McDonald Desolation Road xxviii. 130 She regarded her body, newly womaned, and hated its round sleekness and muscular smoothness.
2007 R. J. Lennon in Playboy (Nexis) 1 Mar. 104 I spent my afternoon womaning up the douche label with some elegant Edwardian script and digitized sprigs of ivy.
b. intransitive and transitive with it. To behave like a woman; to become a woman. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > be or become woman [verb (intransitive)]
to wear (also be in) petticoats1595
woman1613
feminize1776
1613 S. Daniel Hymens Triumph iii. ii This day I should Haue seene my daughter Siluia how she would Haue womand it.
1865 M. B. Betham-Edwards Lisabee's Love Story I. viii. 136 You have womaned so nicely too, and looking just for all the world like your dear Ma.
1911 P. H. Blades Don Sagasto's Daughter v. 99 She queened it and coquetted it and demured it and womaned it over Hemperton and Modeno.
2.
a. transitive. In passive. To be accompanied by a woman or women; (also) to be married or joined in partnership with a woman. rare.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iv. 192 I..thinke it no addition, nor my wish, To haue him see me woman'd . View more context for this quotation
1780 T. Sheridan Gen. Dict. Eng. Lang. II Womaned, accompanied, united with a woman.
1920 T. M. Longstreth Mac of Placid xiii. 130 I was..already become richly womaned as it were.
2006 H. Sides Blood & Thunder iv. 29 He was in the mood to settle down. Or, as the mountain men liked to say, it was time for him to be ‘womaned’.
b. transitive. To provide with a staff, crew, or company of women. Used as a conscious and sometimes humorous alternative to man v. I.
ΘΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour supply > [verb (transitive)] > provide with staff > of women
woman1655
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. i. 37 Vortiger the British King fled into Wales, to his Castle Genereu..which he mann'd and woman'd.
1706 S. Centlivre Basset-table Epil. The Ship's well mann'd, and not ill Woman'd neither.
?1740 Hist. & Life Robert Blake ix. 58 These Busses are huge Hulks of Three, Four or Five hundred Tons, manned (and, if it were not for jingle) woman'd with twelve or fourteen Hands at most.
1830 N. S. Wheaton Jrnl. 271 The tops of the houses were manned and womaned for many a square.
1865 E. Burritt Walk to Land's End 108 A sea-boat womanned by a set of Grace Darlings.
1939 A. Parry Whistler's Father ix. 114 Whistler had thoughtfully manned and womanned the house from garret to basement.
1969 F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float (1976) xix. 237 Gorgeously accoutred yachts..manned and womaned by gleaming paragons of fashion.
1999 Guardian 4 Feb. ii. 20/4 They're womaning the creche for the county-set children.
3. transitive. To address as ‘woman’ (see woman n. 5). Cf. good woman v. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrespect > [verb (transitive)] > by addressing as woman
woman1740
1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 269 She call'd her another time Fat-face, and woman'd her most violently.
1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 11 399 Whom call you woman? Dare to woman me!
1835 Fraser's Mag. July 18/1 ‘Woman! Dinna woman me, Miss McKimp,’ said the fish-lady.
1904 E. Jepson Admirable Tinker xiii. 234 ‘Woman, you're mad!’ said McNeill, rising with a scared face. ‘Don't you woman me, you low Scotchman!’
1947 K. M. Kingsbury Shanty Paradise vii. 75 The son, in his baby days, had taken it up like a lisping echo and had ‘womaned’ me this and ‘womaned’ me that all around the place.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.eOE
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