Wom"an (?), n.; pl.
Women (#). [OE. woman, womman,
wumman, wimman, wifmon, AS. wīfmann,
wīmmann; wīf woman, wife + mann a man.
See Wife, and Man.]
1. An adult female person; a grown-up female
person, as distinguished from a man or a child; sometimes, any female
person.
Women are soft, mild pitiful, and
flexible.
Shak.
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he
a woman.
Gen. ii. 22.
I have observed among all nations that the women
ornament themselves more than the men; that, wherever found, they are the
same kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings, inclined to be gay and
cheerful, timorous and modest.
J. Ledyard.
2. The female part of the human race;
womankind.
Man is destined to be a prey to woman.
Thackeray.
3. A female attendant or servant. " By her
woman I sent your message." Shak.
Woman hater, one who hates women; one who has an
aversion to the female sex; a misogynist. Swift.
Wom"an, v. t. 1. To act
the part of a woman in; -- with indefinite it.
Daniel.
2. To make effeminate or womanish. [R.]
Shak.
3. To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
[R.] "To have him see me woman'd." Shak.