Category:Woman

Wom"an n.; pl. Women. Etym: [oe. woman, womman, wumman, wimman, Wifmon, as. wifmann, wimmann; wif woman, wife + mann a man. See wife, And man.]

1. An adult female person; a grown-up female person, as distinguished From a man or a child; sometimes, any female person. Women are soft, mild pitiful, and flexible. Shak. And the rib, which the lord god had taken from man, made he a woman. Gen. ii. 22. I have observed among all nations that the women ornament themselves More than the men; that, wherever found, they are the same kind, Civil, obliging, humane, tender beings, inclined to be gay and Cheerful, timorous and modest. J. Ledyard.

2. The female part of the human race; womankind. Man is destined to be a prey to woman. Thackeray.

3. A female attendant or servant. " by her woman i sent your Message." Shak. Woman hater, one who hates women; one who has an Aversion to the female sex; a misogynist. Swift.

Woman Wom"an, v. t.

1. To act the part of a woman in; -- with indefinite it. Daniel.

2. To make effeminate or womanish. [r.] Shak.

3. To furnish with, or unite to, a woman. [r.] "to have him see me Woman'd." Shak.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Woman - Was "taken out of man" (Genesis 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. "The head of the woman is the man;" but yet honour is to be shown to the wife, "as unto the weaker vessel" (1 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Corinthians 11:8, 1 Corinthians 11:9; 1 Peter 3:7). Several women are mentioned in Scripture as having been endowed with prophetic gifts, as Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4, Judges 4:5), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36, Luke 2:37), and the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8, Acts 21:9). Women are forbidden to teach publicly (1 Corinthians 14:34, 1 Corinthians 14:35; 1 Timothy 2:11, 1 Timothy 2:12). Among the Hebrews it devolved upon women to prepare the meals for the household (Genesis 18:6; 2 Samuel 13:8), to attend to the work of spinning (Exodus 35:26; Proverbs 31:19), and making clothes (1 Samuel 2:19; Proverbs 31:21), to bring water from the well (Genesis 24:15; 1 Samuel 9:11), and to care for the flocks (Genesis 29:6; Exodus 2:16). The word "woman," as used in Matthew 15:28, John 2:4 and John 20:13, John 20:15, implies tenderness and courtesy and not disrespect. Only where revelation is known has woman her due place of honour assigned to her.