释义 |
▪ I. womanly, a.|ˈwʊmənlɪ| [f. woman n. + -ly1.] 1. a. Possessing the attributes proper to a woman; having the qualities (as of gentleness, devotion, fearfulness, etc.) held to be characteristic of women; also said of these qualities or of actions which exhibit them. Freq. in phr. womanly woman.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 106 .O. wommanlyche wyf. Ibid. iv. 694 (Camb. MS.) Þo wordis & þo womanliche þyngis Sche herde riȝt nouȝt þow sche þere were. c1385― L.G.W. 175 So womanly so benygne & so meke. c1386― Knt.'s T. 2225 Youre wommanly pitee. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. xii. (Skeat) l. 114 So precious perle, as a womanly woman in her kynde. 1421Hoccleve Jereslaus's Wife 466 A lady the womanlyeste Of cheere. c1485Digby Myst. iii. 525 Your person, ittis so womanly. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI 115 b, Where was her womanly pitie? 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 69 She coulde scarcely conteine hir selfe from embracing him, had not womanly shamefastnes..stayed hir wisedome. 1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair i. iii, Be womanly, Win; make an outcry to your mother, Win! 1676Dryden Aurengz. iv. 54 Rage choaks my words: 'tis Womanly to weep. 1712Steele Spect. No. 272 ⁋1 One who was growing up to the same womanly Virtues which shine to Perfection in her. 1805Southey Madoc i. xvii. 132 Womanly sobs were heard, and manly cheeks Were wet with silent tears. 1852Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. 235 Lady Goldsmid (that impersonation of all that is womanly and motherly). 1872(title) Woman's rights and the wife at home. By a womanly woman. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §3. 368 Whatever womanly tenderness she [sc. Elizabeth] had, wrapt itself around Leicester. 1891G. B. Shaw Quintessence of Ibsenism iii. 34 In real life a self-sacrificing woman, or, as Mr. Stead would put it, a womanly woman, is not only taken advantage of, but disliked as well for her pains. 1926Wodehouse Heart of Goof iii. 96 The least you can do, as a good womanly woman, is to have a capable lawyer watching your interests. 1958M. Kennedy Outlaws on Parnassus xii. 196 Telemachus..upbraids his mother for not behaving like a womanly woman. 1978J. Porter Dead Easy for Dover vii. 78 The Brigadier..only exists to make Madame more credible as a womanly woman. b. In derogatory use, with reference to the bad qualities attributed to women; † (of men) effeminate, womanish.
a1225Ancr. R. 274 Þet nis nout iwar ne waker ne nis nout monlich, auh is wummonlich. 1382Wyclif 1 Kings xiv. 24 Men maad wommanlich weren in the loond. a1400New Test. (Paues) 1 Pet. iii. 7 Departynge to hem worschupe, as to a wommanlyche vessel þat is more febel þan ȝe beþ. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 228 b, Nyce aray, and new fangled garmentis, welthy fare and ydelnes: make men to be womanly. 1538Elyot Dict. s.v. Mollis, Mollis homo, a man efffemynate, or womanlye. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 57 b, For very womanly malice, she set in the highest authoritie aboute the kyng her husband. 1558Knox First Blast (Arb.) 21 Lest that again she slide and fall by womanlie facilitie. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 23 Burning with a womanly spleen. 1716Lady M. W. Montagu Lett., to Lady X― 1 Oct. (1887) I. 128 The womanly spirit of contradiction. 1830James De L'Orme xvii, Senor, are you a man? I would not, for very shame, have any one see you look so womanly. 1862M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xix, Has she baffled me by some piece of womanly jugglery? 2. Having the character of, befitting or characteristic of, a woman as contrasted with a girl.
1709Steele Tatler No. 15 ⁋2 The Girl was very proud of the Womanly Employment of a Nurse. 1732Arbuthnot Aliments, Rules of Diet (1736) 408 Young Persons under a womanly Age. 1753–4Richardson Grandison II. xxxvi. 279 The girl begins to be womanly. 1848Dickens Dombey iii, A short, brown, womanly girl of fourteen. 1853― Bleak Ho. xv, A very little girl..wearing a womanly sort of bonnet much too large for her. 3. Belonging or proper to the female sex.
1863Geo. Eliot Romola xliv, Her early training had kept her aloof from such womanly labours. a1873Lytton Pausanias (1876) 90 Cleonice..had enjoyed those advantages of womanly education wholly unknown at that time to the freeborn ladies of Greece. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 146 Many types of manly and womanly beauty. ▪ II. ˈwomanly, adv. Obs. or arch. [f. as prec.: see -ly2.] In a womanly manner; like a woman.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9391 Wat he aþ Manliche bigonne, he it aþ bileued Wommanliche, as vor defaute of wit in his heued. c1400Destr. Troy 3994 Cassandra..was a Clene Maydon,..Womonly wroght. 1476Stonor Papers (Camden) II. 7 Where as ye, ffull womanly and lyke a loffer, remembre me with manyffolde recommendacion in dyuersse maners. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 496 To euery man in speciall speke I sum wordis, So wisly, and so womanly, quhill warmys ther hertis. 1575Gascoigne Flowers, Lullabie of Lover 4 And lullaby can I sing to, As womanly as can the best. 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus iii. 2 (1619) 578 For how womanly haue many behaued themselues. 1723Briton No. 7 (1724) 28 You..then very Womanly expect a Consideration, for the Trouble we put you to in Swearing. 1844Mrs. Browning Rom. Page xxvii, Oh, womanly, she prayed in tent, When none beside did wake! |