womanize

English

Alternative forms

• womanise (non-Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

woman +‎ -ize

Verb

1. (intransitive, said of a man) To flirt with and/or seduce, or attempt to seduce, women, especially lecherously.
2. (transitive, usually figuratively) To turn into a woman; to feminize.
   • a. 1590, Phillip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia:

     And herein do these kinds of loves imitate the excellent; for as the love of heaven makes one heavenly, the love of virtue virtuous, so doth the love of the world make one become worldly; and this effeminate love of a woman doth so womanize a man that, if he yield to it, will not only make him an Amazon, but a launder, a distaff, a spinner, or whatsoever other vile occupation their idle heads can imagine and their weak hands perform.

Derived terms

• womanizer, womaniser