2 entries under this word
n. [Fr. femelle, Pr. femei, Lat. femella, diminutive of femina, woman.]
Sense 1. An individual of the sex among animals which conceives and brings forth young.
The male and female of each living thing. Drayton.
Sense 2. (Bot.) A plant which bears the pistil, and is impregnated by the pollen of the male flowers, and produces fruit.
a. 1. Belonging to the sex which conceives and gives birth to young; not male.
As patient as the female dove. When that her golden couplets are disclosed. Shak.
Sense 2. Belonging to an individual of the female sex; characteristic of the sex, or of woman; feminine. “Female usurpation.” Milton.
Sense 3. (Bot.) Having pistils and no stamens; pistillate. Female rhymes (Pros.), double rhymes, or rhymes (called in French feminine rhymes) in which two syllables, an accented and an unaccented one, correspond at the end of each line. — Female screw, the spiral-threaded cavity into which another screw turns. Nicholson.
Synonyms— FEMALE, FEMININE. We apply female to the sex, as opposed to male; and feminine to the characteristics of the sex, as opposed to masculine. Hence we speak of the female character, dress, habits, manners, &c.; and of feminine pursuits, employments, &c. In a female school, feminine accomplishments should be particularly taught.
Once more her haughty soul the tyrant bends; To prayers and mean submission she descends; No female arts or aids she left untried, Nor counsels unexplored, before she died. Dryden.
Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine Her graceful innocence. Milton.