Woman

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: wom=an

CIDE DICTIONARY

Woman, n. [OE. woman, womman, wumman, wimman, wifmon, AS. wīfmann, wīmmann; wīf woman, wife + mann a man. See Wife, and Man.].

•  An adult female person; a grown-up female person, as distinguished from a man or a child; sometimes, any female person.  [1913 Webster]

  "Women are soft, mild pitiful, and flexible."  [1913 Webster]

  "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman."  [1913 Webster]

  "I have observed among all nations that the women ornament themselves more than the men; that, wherever found, they are the same kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings, inclined to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest."  [1913 Webster]
•  The female part of the human race; womankind.  [1913 Webster]

  "Man is destined to be a prey to woman."  [1913 Webster]
•  A female attendant or servant.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

Woman hater, one who hates women; one who has an aversion to the female sex; a misogynist. Swift.

Woman, v. t. 

•  To act the part of a woman in; -- with indefinite it.  Daniel.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make effeminate or womanish.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Woman, n. (pl. women)
1 an adult human female.
2 the female sex; any or an average woman (how does woman differ from man?).
3 a wife or female sexual partner.
4 (prec. by the) emotions or characteristics traditionally associated with women (brought out the woman in him).
5 a man with characteristics traditionally associated with women.
6 (attrib.) female (woman driver; women friends).
7 (as second element in comb.) a woman of a specified nationality, profession, skill, etc. (Englishwoman; horsewoman).
8 colloq. a female domestic help.
9 archaic or hist. a queen's etc. female attendant ranking below lady (woman of the bedchamber).

Idiom

woman of the streets a prostitute. Women's Institute an organization of women in rural areas to meet regularly and participate in crafts, cultural activities, etc. women's lib colloq. = women's liberation. women's libber colloq. a supporter of women's liberation. women's liberation the liberation of women from inequalities and subservient status in relation to men, and from attitudes causing these. Women's Liberation (or Movement) a movement campaigning for women's liberation. women's rights rights that promote a position of legal and social equality of women with men.

Derivative

womanless adj. womanlike adj.

Etymology

OE wifmon, -man (as WIFE, MAN), a formation peculiar to English, the ancient word being WIFE

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Woman

n.

An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man, and having a
rudimentary susceptibility to domestication. It is credited by
many of the elder zoologists with a certain vestigial docility
acquired in a former state of seclusion, but naturalists of the
postsusananthony period, having no knowledge of the seclusion,
deny the virtue and declare that such as creation's dawn beheld,
it roareth now. The species is the most widely distributed of all
beasts of prey, infesting all habitable parts of the globe, from
Greeland's spicy mountains to India's moral strand. The popular
name (wolfman) is incorrect, for the creature is of the cat kind.
The woman is lithe and graceful in its movement, especially the
American variety (_felis pugnans_), is omnivorous and can be
taught not to talk.
Balthasar Pober

THESAURUS

Woman

Eve, Frau, adult, better half, common-law wife, concubine, dame, daughter of Eve, distaff, distaff side, domina, donna, dowager, doxy, fair sex, female sex, feme, feme covert, femininity, femme, frow, gentlewoman, girl, goodwife, goody, grown man, grownup, helpmate, helpmeet, kept mistress, kept woman, lady, lass, legalis homo, little, major, man, married woman, matron, mature man, milady, mistress, no chicken, old lady, old woman, paramour, playmate, rib, second sex, softer sex, squaw, unofficial wife, vrouw, wahine, weaker sex, weaker vessel, wedded wife, wife, womanhood, womankind, women, womenfolk, womenfolks

ROGET THESAURUS

Woman

Adolescence

N adolescence, pubescence, majority, adultism, adultness, manhood, virility, maturity full age, ripe age, flower of age, prime of life, meridian of life, spring of life, man, woman, adult, no chicken, adolescent, pubescent, of age, of full age, of ripe age, out of one's teens, grown up, mature, full grown, in one's prime, middle-aged, manly, virile, adult, womanly, matronly, marriageable, nubile, Time with reference to an Effect or Purpose.

Libertine

N libertine, voluptuary, rake, debauchee, loose fish, rip, rakehell, fast man, intrigant, gallant, seducer, fornicator, lecher, satyr, goat, whoremonger, paillard, adulterer, gay deceiver, Lothario, Don Juan, Bluebeard, chartered libertine, adulteress, advoutress, courtesan, prostitute, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, woman, woman of the town, streetwalker, Cyprian, miss, piece, frail sisterhood, demirep, wench, trollop, trull, baggage, hussy, drab, bitch, jade, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, slut, minx, harridan, unfortunate, unfortunate female, unfortunate woman, woman of easy virtue, wanton, fornicatress, Jezebel, Messalina, Delilah, Thais, Phryne, Aspasia, Lais, lorette, cocotte, petite dame, grisette, demimonde, chippy, sapphist, spiritual wife, white slave, concubine, mistress, doxy, chere amie, bona roba, pimp, procurer, pander, pandar, bawd, conciliatrix, procuress, mackerel, wittol.

Woman

N woman, she, her, female, petticoat, feminality, muliebrity, womanhood, womankind, the sex, the fair, fair sex, softer sex, weaker vessel, dame, madam, madame, mistress, Mrs, lady, donna belle, matron, dowager, goody, gammer, Frau, frow, Vrouw, rani, good woman, good wife, squaw, wife, matronage, matronhood, bachelor girl, new woman, feminist, suffragette, suffragist, nymph, wench, grisette, girl, sissy, betty, cot betty, cotquean, henhussy, mollycoddle, muff, old woman, hen, bitch, sow, doe, roe, mare, she goat, Nanny goat, tabita, ewe, cow, lioness, tigress, vixen, gynecaeum, estrogen, oestrogen, consanguinity &c, paternity, lesbian, dyke, female, she-, feminine, womanly, ladylike, matronly, maidenly, wifely, womanish, effeminate, unmanly, gynecic, gynaecic, Pron, she, her, hers, ', a perfect woman nobly planned, a lovely lady garmented in white, das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan, earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected, es de vidrio la mujer, she moves a goddess and she looks a queen, the beauty of a lovely woman is like music, varium et mutabile semper femina, woman is the lesser man.