Fem"i*nine, n. 1.
A woman. [Obs. or Colloq.]
They guide the feminines toward the
palace.
Hakluyt.
2. (Gram.) Any one of those words
which are the appellations of females, or which have the terminations
usually found in such words; as, actress, songstress,
abbess, executrix.
There are but few true feminines in
English.
Latham.Fem"i*nine (?), a. [L.
femininus, fr. femina woman; prob. akin to L.
fetus, or to Gr. qh^sqai to suck, qh^sai
to suckle, Skr. dhā to suck; cf. AS. fǣmme
woman, maid: cf. F. féminin. See Fetus.]
1. Of or pertaining to a woman, or to women;
characteristic of a woman; womanish; womanly.
Her letters are remarkably deficient in
feminine ease and grace.
Macaulay.
2. Having the qualities of a woman; becoming
or appropriate to the female sex; as, in a good sense, modest,
graceful, affectionate, confiding; or, in a bad sense, weak,
nerveless, timid, pleasure-loving, effeminate.
Her heavenly form
Angelic, but more soft and feminine.
Milton.
Ninus being esteemed no man of war at all, but
altogether feminine, and subject to ease and
delicacy.
Sir W. Raleigh.
Feminine rhyme. (Pros.) See Female
rhyme, under Female, a.
Syn. -- See Female, a.