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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Feminine \Fem"i*nine\, noun
1. A woman. [Obs. or Colloq.]
They guide the feminines toward the palace. --Hakluyt.
2. (Gram.) Any one of those words which are the appellations of females, or which have the terminations usually found in such words; as, actress, songstress, abbess, executrix.
There are but few true feminines in English. --Latham.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Feminine \Fem"i*nine\, adjective [L. femininus, fr. femina woman; prob. akin to L. fetus, or to Gr. qh^sqai to suck, qh^sai to suckle, Skr. dh[=a] to suck; cf. AS. f[=ae]mme woman, maid: cf. F. f['e]minin. See {Fetus}.]
1. Of or pertaining to a woman, or to women; characteristic of a woman; womanish; womanly.
Her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace. --Macaulay.
2. Having the qualities of a woman; becoming or appropriate to the female sex; as, in a good sense, modest, graceful, affectionate, confiding; or, in a bad sense, weak, nerveless, timid, pleasure-loving, effeminate.
Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine. --Milton.
Ninus being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogether feminine, and subject to ease and delicacy. --Sir W. Raleigh.
{Feminine rhyme}. (Pros.) See {Female rhyme}, under {Female}, a.
Syn: See {Female}, adjective
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
feminine
adjective
1: associated with women and not with men; "feminine intuition" [ant: {masculine}]
2: of grammatical gender [ant: {neuter}, {masculine}]
3: befitting or characteristic of a woman especially a mature woman; "womanly virtues of gentleness and compassion" [syn: {womanly}] [ant: {unwomanly}]
4: (music or poetry) ending on an unaccented beat or syllable; "a feminine ending"
noun: a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to females or to objects classified as female
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
37 Moby Thesaurus words for "feminine": affected, amenable, animate, common gender, deferential, delicate, distaff, docile, effeminate, effete, female, gender, gentle, gentlewomanlike, girlish, gynecic, gynecoid, gynic, inanimate, kittenish, ladylike, little-girlish, maidenly, masculine, matronal, matronlike, matronly, muliebral, neuter, petticoat, soft, submissive, tender, unmanly, womanish, womanlike, womanly
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