5 definitions found
fe·male /ˈfiˌmel/
女性,女人,雌獸(
a.)女性的,女子的
fe·male /ˈfɪˌmel/ 名詞
雌性動物,女性的,雌性的,女性,雌性,女子,陰性的,凹形的,插座式配件,婦女的,柔和的,音調高的,女子,雌鳥,牝獸,雌株
Fe·male n.
1. An individual of the sex which conceives and brings forth young,
or (
in a wider sense)
which has an ovary and produces ova.
The male and female of each living thing. --
Drayton.
2. Bot. A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organs which are capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or fertilization;
a pistillate plant.
Fe·male,
a.
1. Belonging to the sex which conceives and gives birth to young,
or (
in a wider sense)
which produces ova;
not male.
As patient as the female dove
When that her golden couplets are disclosed. --
Shak.
2. Belonging to an individual of the female sex;
characteristic of woman;
feminine;
as,
female tenderness.
“Female usurpation.”
To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of America. --
Belknap.
3. Bot. Having pistils and no stamens;
pistillate;
or,
in cryptogamous plants,
capable of receiving fertilization.
Female rhymes Pros.,
double rhymes,
or rhymes (
called in French feminine rhymes because they end in e weak,
or feminine)
in which two syllables,
an accented and an unaccented one,
correspond at the end of each line.
Note: ☞
A rhyme,
in which the final syllables only agree (
strain,
complain)
is called a male rhyme;
one in which the two final syllables of each verse agree,
the last being short (
motion,
ocean),
is called female.
--
Female screw,
the spiral-threaded cavity into which another,
or male,
screw turns. --
Nicholson.
Female fern Bot.,
a common species of fern with large decompound fronds (
Asplenium Filixfæmina),
growing in many countries;
lady fern.
Note: ☞
The names male fern and female fern were anciently given to two common ferns;
but it is now understood that neither has any sexual character.
Syn: --
Female,
Feminine.
Usage: We apply female to the sex or individual,
as opposed to male;
also,
to the distinctive belongings of women;
as,
female dress,
female form,
female character,
etc.;
feminine,
to things appropriate to,
or affected by,
women;
as,
feminine studies,
employments,
accomplishments,
etc.
“Female applies to sex rather than gender, and is a physiological rather than a grammatical term. Feminine applies to gender rather than sex, and is grammatical rather than physiological.”
◄ ►
female
adj 1:
being the sex (
of plant or animal)
that produces
fertilizable gametes (
ova)
from which offspring
develop; "
a female heir"; "
female holly trees bear the
berries" [
ant:
androgynous,
male]
2:
characteristic of or peculiar to a woman; "
female
sensitiveness"; "
female suffrage" [
syn:
distaff]
3:
for or composed of women or girls; "
the female lead in the
play"; "
a female chorus"
n 1:
an animal that produces gametes (
ova)
that can be fertilized
by male gametes (
spermatozoa) [
ant:
male]
2:
a person who belongs to the sex that can have babies [
syn: {
female
person] [
ant:
male]