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adjective Female adj. 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." 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." 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. Female fern (Bot.), a common species of fern with large decompound fronds (Asplenium Filixfaemina), 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. Synonyms: Female, Feminine. 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."
noun Female 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." 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.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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