an adult male human being, as distinguished from a woman
2. (modifier)
male or masculine
a man child
3. archaic
a human being regardless of sex or age, considered as a representative of humankind; a person
4. (sometimes capital)
human beings collectively; humankind
the development of man
5. Also called: modern man
a.
a member of any of the living races of Homo sapiens, characterized by erect bipedal posture, a highly developed brain, and powers of articulate speech, abstract reasoning, and imagination
b.
any extinct member of the species Homo sapiens, such as Cro-Magnon man
6.
a member of any of the extinct species of the genus Homo, such as Java man, Heidelberg man, and Solo man
7.
an adult male human being with qualities associated with the male, such as courage or virility
be a man
8.
manly qualities or virtues
the man in him was outraged
9.
a.
a subordinate, servant, or employee contrasted with an employer or manager
b.
(in combination)
the number of man-days required to complete a job
10. (usually plural)
a member of the armed forces who does not hold commissioned, warrant, or noncommissioned rank (as in the phrase officers and men)
11.
a member of a group, team, etc
12.
a husband, boyfriend, etc
man and wife
13.
an expression used parenthetically to indicate an informal relationship between speaker and hearer
14.
a movable piece in various games, such as draughts
15. South Africa slang
any person: used as a term of address
16.
a vassal of a feudal lord
17. as one man
18. be one's own man
19. he's your man
20. man and boy
21. sort out the men from the boys
22. to a man
exclamation
23. informal
an exclamation or expletive, often indicating surprise or pleasure
verbWord forms: mans, manning or manned(transitive)
24.
to provide with sufficient people for operation, defence, etc
to man the phones
25.
to take one's place at or near in readiness for action
26. falconry
to induce (a hawk or falcon) to endure the presence of and handling by humans, esp strangers
▶ USAGE The use of man and mankind to mean human beings in general is often considered sexist. Gender-neutral alternativesinclude human beings, people and humankind. The verb to man can also often be replaced by to staff, to operate and related words. Gender-neutral alternatives to manpower include personnel and staff.
Derived forms
manless (ˈmanless)
adjective
Word origin
Old English mann; related to Old Frisian man, Old High German man, Dutch man, Icelandic mathr