anti-woman

noun, plural wom·en [wim-in] /ˈwɪm ɪn/.

1. the female human being, as distinguished from a girl or a man.
2. an adult female person.
3. a female attendant to a lady of rank.
4. a wife.
5. the nature, characteristics, or feelings often attributed to women; womanliness.
6. a sweetheart or paramour; mistress.
7. a female employee or representative: A woman from the real estate agency called.
8. a female person who cleans house, cooks, etc.; housekeeper: The woman will be in to clean today.
9. women collectively: Woman is no longer subordinate to man.

verb (used with object)

10. to put into the company of a woman.
11. to equip or staff with women.
12. Obsolete. to cause to act or yield like a woman.

adjective

13. of women; womanly.
14. female: a woman plumber.

Idioms

15. be one’s own woman, (of females) to be free from restrictions, control, or dictatorial influence; be independent.

noun plural women (ˈwɪmɪn)

1. an adult female human being
2. (modifier) female or femininea woman politician; woman talk
3. women collectively; womankind
4. the woman feminine nature or feelingsbabies bring out the woman in her
5. a female servant or domestic help
6. a man considered as having supposed female characteristics, such as meekness or timidity
7. informal a wife, mistress, or girlfriend
8. the little woman informal one’s wife
9. woman of the streets a prostitute

verb (tr)

10. rare to provide with women
11. obsolete to make effeminate

n.

late Old English wimman (plural wimmen), literally “woman-man,” alteration of wifman (plural wifmen), a compound of wif “woman” (see wife) + man “human being” (in Old English used in reference to both sexes; see man (n.)). Cf. Dutch vrouwmens “wife,” literally “woman-man.”

The formation is peculiar to English and Dutch. Replaced older Old English wif and quean as the word for “female human being.” The pronunciation of the singular altered in Middle English by the rounding influence of -w-; the plural retains the original vowel. Meaning “wife,” now largely restricted to U.S. dialectal use, is attested from mid-15c. Women’s liberation is attested from 1966; women’s rights is from 1840, with an isolated example in 1630s.

see feel like oneself (new woman); marked man (woman); (woman) of few words; own person (woman); right-hand man (woman); scarlet woman.