woman

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Contents

English [edit]

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English woman, wimman, wifman, from Old English wīfmann (“woman, female servant”, literally “female person, female human being”), equivalent to wife +‎ man. Compare Dutch vrouwmens (“wife”, literally “woman-person”). Compare also Dutch vrouwspersoon (“woman”), German Weibsperson (“female person”), and dialectal German Fraumensch ("woman", literally "woman human-being").

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

woman (plural women)

  1. An adult female human.
    • 1887, Helen Campbell, Prisoners of poverty: their trades and their lives, page 120:
      But this woman is a nice German woman that fell on the ice and sprained her ankle last winter, and we saw to her well as we could till she got better.
  2. A wife (or sometimes a fiancée or girlfriend).
    • 1914, D. H. Lawrence, Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays, chapter 7: "Of Being and Not-Being":
      And then, when he lies with his woman, the man may concurrently be with God, and so get increase of his soul.

Synonyms [edit]

See Wikisaurus:woman

Antonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

terms derived from "woman"

Translations [edit]

adult female human being
wife — see wife

Verb [edit]

woman (third-person singular simple present womans, present participle womaning, simple past and past participle womaned)

  1. To man with female labor.
    • 1956, Rex Stout, Three Witnesses, The Viking Press, page 54
      Apparently the Sixty-ninth Street office of Bagby Answers, Inc., was being womaned for the day from other offices.
    • 1990, Stephen King, The stand: the complete & uncut edition
      Gus Dinsmore, the public beach parking lot attendent, said he guessed that so many cars must be just stopped dead along the road that even those manned (or womaned) by able drivers would be unable to move.
    • 2010, Julia Glass, The Widower's Tale, page 77
      The information desk is now manned (womaned) by someone whose main job is to help you reserve time slots for the computers or guide you through the arduous process of “logging on.”
  2. (transitive) To make effeminate or womanish.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  3. (transitive) To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
    To have him see me woman'd. — Shakespeare.

See also [edit]

Statistics [edit]

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