womanhoodn.
/ˈwʊmənhʊd/, U.S. /ˈwʊmənˌ(h)ʊd/ 1. Women considered collectively; womankind.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > women collectively
wifkinOE
womanOE
womankinc1175
womankindc1175
womenkina1387
womenkinda1387
womanhoodc1405
feminityc1425
femininityc1450
femininec1451
the fair (also gentle, soft, weak, etc.) sex1536
the second sex1536
the woman sex1536
feminie1541
mesdames1552
the fairer (also gentler, softer, weaker, etc.) sex1578
sex1589
ladyhooda1666
fair1687
wimmin1710
womenfolk1729
mesdemoiselles1739
the female of the species1795
femalitiesc1801
ladykind1829
womanity1836
womandom1838
ladydom1843
petticoatery1849
tea-body1865
muslin1884
the skirt1899
quim1909
womyn1975
womxn1991
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 753 Thow glorie of wommanhod, thow faire may.
1523 J. Skelton Chapelet Laurell sig. D3/2 Maydenly demure Of womanhode the lure Wherefore I make you sure.
1606 J. Day Ile of Guls sig. G4 Therefore for the loue of womanhood conceale mine errors.
1683 R. Dixon Canidia ii. xii. 63 So we become a special Brood, Distinct from the rest of Womanhood.
1718 Free-thinker No. 39. 2 They contribute to make this Kind of Womanhood more universal, than it would otherwise be.
1759 W. Hawkins Cymbeline ii. 30 The rights of birth, the largesses of fortune, The pageants of pre-eminence, and all That womanhood is said to doat on.
1858 D. M. Mulock Woman's Thoughts about Women 71 The infinite wrongs, errors, and sufferings of this mass of womanhood.
1889 J. H. Skrine Mem. E. Thring 203 Uppingham womanhood must next be taught to cook.
1937 Sun (Baltimore) 16 July 1/4 The State demanded the chair for Norris as ‘a warning to other rapists and a protection for the womanhood of the State’.
1977 D. Appell Hot Shot ii. i. 45 An exclusive interview with the girl who has become a symbol of hope for all womanhood.
2003 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Nov. 40/1 Les Liaisons dangereuses..was called..the most disgraceful attack on respectable society and a slur on French womanhood.
2.
a. The state, condition, or fact of being a woman rather than a man.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > fact or state of being
womanheadc1390
womanhooda1413
womanishness1545
womankind1549
womenhead1555
womanship1608
feminineness1810
femininism1824
feminity1854
femininity1856
femininitude1878
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 283 Alle here lymes so wel answerynge Weren to womanhode.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 545 [Ione the Puzell] contrarie to Gods lawe, and the honest estate of womanhood, was clothed in mans apparell.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. ii. 193 May we with the warrant of womanhood..pursue him with any further reuenge? View more context for this quotation
a1645 W. Strode Floating Island (1655) iii. sig. D/2 He hath many Symbolical conditions of womanhood already: He is Femal in every part but one, and half Femal in his cloathes.
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 28 One who had prevented all doubt of her womanhood, by conducting my hands to a pair of breasts that hung loosely down.
1753 E. Haywood Hist. Jemmy & Jenny Jessamy I. x. 113 He had read some old musty authors, who maintained that modesty was the peculiar characteristic of womanhood.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IX lxxi. 40 Her womanhood In its meridian.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 10 She,..with all grace Of womanhood and queenhood, answer'd him.
1921 Western Pennsylvania Hist. Rev. July 171 Her womanhood was her defence. Until a mob is overwhelmingly passionate it respects womanhood.
1973 A. Phillips & J. Rakusen Our Bodies Ourselves Pref. 2/1 Learning about our womanhood from the inside out has allowed us to cross over the socially created barriers of race, color, income and class.
1995 Daily Tel. 1 Nov. 19/4 She is baffled by the strength of the traditionalists' stance... ‘I fail to grasp why they see womanhood and priesthood as mutually exclusive states.’
b. The state of being a woman rather than a girl; the time of life following girlhood or puberty.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > adulthood or maturity > adulthood of woman
womanhood1608
1608 A. Willet Hexapla in Exodum 470 Si appareant in ea signa pubertatis, if the signes of her womanhood appeared.
1694 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: Pt. 2nd iii. i. 27 Come to their Womanhood, their Pride of eighteen.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 534. ⁋1 This has been my State, till I came toward Years of Womanhood.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 227 Misses..assume the dress Of womanhood.
1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xlvii. 461 The change from childhood to womanhood.
1893 S. R. Crockett Stickit Minister 40 Janet grew to womanhood without a sweetheart.
1925 W. Cather Professor's House i. i. 22 Notched charts which followed the changing stature and figures of the Misses St. Peter from early childhood to womanhood.
1948 O. Walker Kaffirs are Lively 80 The dhomba dances..are really initiation dances for girls crossing over from puberty to womanhood.
1969 C. W. Chesnutt Marrow of Trad. xxx. 262 If in the future this child of Julia's and of mine should grow to womanhood..she should become..an educated woman.
2003 Bitch Summer 49/2 Carrie White's metamorphosis from frightened menstruating girl to force of nature is the ultimate ascendency to womanhood.
3. The disposition, character, or qualities traditionally attributed to women; womanliness.Noted by Johnson (1755) as obsolete.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > womanly qualities or characteristics
tendernessa1387
femininityc1405
feminityc1415
womanhoodc1430
womanc1440
womanliness1538
muliebrity?1592
woman1619
feminality1646
femality1702
femineity1741
feminacy1776
feminility1824
womanism1824
feminism1841
womanness1841
feminicity1843
womanity1843
femininitude1878
the eternal feminine1892
marianismo1972
c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1041 If that god..Wolde han a loue for beaute & goodnesse And womanhod [c1500 Trin. Cambr. womanhede] & trouthe.
c1475 in R. H. Robbins Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1952) 201 (MED) Bounte, beaute, and perfyte whomanhode, Ensampull of worchype, & Rote of lustynes.
1590 R. Greene Neuer too Late i. 34 Courage is knowen in extremities, womanhood in distresse.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. iii. 114 Theres neither faith, truth, nor womanhood in me else. View more context for this quotation
1621 R. Brathwait Natures Embassie 160 To transgresse the bounds of womanhood.
1712 E. Freke Let. 21 May in Remembrances (2001) 327 I have within these few yeares supprestt severall of these sorts of quitt rentts, which I by my ignorance, folly, and womanhood have unjustly paid.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxxiii. 278 Miss Brass's maiden modesty and gentle womanhood.
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. viii. 255 My mother..had sympathy with every passion..of true womanhood.
1913 N. Lorimer Wife out of Egypt (1915) xiii. 131 Her womanhood could rend him in pieces, until all his highness and masterfulness had melted away.
1977 Texas Monthly May 106/2 They had for so long accepted and tried to conform to definitions of womanhood formulated..by men.
1991 Elle July 44/1 A woman performing flamenco brings out all her real womanhood.
Compounds
womanhood suffrage n. [ < womanhood n. + suffrage n., after manhood suffrage n. at manhood n. Compounds] now chiefly historical the right of women to vote; women's suffrage.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > of women
female suffrage1803
womanhood suffrage1843
woman suffrage1846
women suffrage1846
women's suffrage1868
1843 Northern Star 2 Sept. 7/2 An Irish House of Lords and Commons, elected by Household, Manhood, or Womanhood! Suffrage, would rule your destiny.
1911 Times 18 Nov. 10/1 Now that men were to have manhood suffrage, women could not be satisfied with less than womanhood suffrage.
1992 C. Pateman in G. Bock & S. James Beyond Equality & Difference i. 18 Most suffragists..argued that womanhood suffrage was required as a matter of justice.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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