Fémale. adj.
- Not masculine; belonging to a she.
If by a female hand he had foreseen
He was to die, his wish had rather been
The lance and double ax of the fair warrior queen. Dryd. - Female Rhymes. Double rhymes so called, because in French, from which the term is taken, they end in e weak or feminine. These rhymes are female:
Th' excess of heat is but a fable;
We know the torrid zone is now found habitable. Cowley.The female rhymes are in use with the Italian in every line, with the Spaniard promiscuously, and with the French alternately, as appears from the Alarique, the Pucelle, or any of their later poems. Dryden's Preface to Ann. Mirab.