Wóman. [wifman, wimman, Saxon; whence we yet pronounce women in the plural, wimmen, Skinner.]

1. The female of the human race.

   That man who hath a tongue is no man,
   If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. Shakespeare.

   Thou dotard, thou art woman-tir'd, unroosted
   By thy dame Parlet here. Shakespeare's Winter's Tale.

   Women are soft, mild, pitiful and flexible;
   Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless. Shakesp.

   And Abimelech took men-servants and women servants. Gen.

   O woman, lovely woman, nature form'd thee
   To temper man: we had been brutes without thee. Otway.

   Ceneus a woman once and once a man;
   But ending in the sex she first began. Dryden's Æn.

   Women are made as they themselves would choose,
   Too proud to ask, too humble to refuse. Garth.

   Women in their nature are much more gay and joyous than men; whether it be that their blood is more refined, their fibres more delicate, and their animal spirits more light; vivacity is the gift of women, gravity that of men. Addison.

2. A female attendant on a person of rank.

   I could not personally deliver to her
   What you commanded me; but by her woman
   I sent your message. Shakespeare's Henry VIII.