Fem"i*nine , n.
1. A woman. [Obs. or
Colloq.]
They guide the feminines toward the palace.
Hakluyt.
2. (Gram.) Any one of those words which are the appellations of females, or which have the terminations usually found in such words; as, actress, songstress, abbess, executrix.
There are but
few true feminines in English.
Latham.
Fem"i*nine (?), a. [L. femininus, fr. femina woman; prob. akin to L. fetus, or to Gr. qh^sqai to suck, qh^sai to suckle, Skr. dhā
to suck; cf. AS. f&aemacr;mme woman, maid: cf. F. féminin. See Fetus.]
1. Of or
pertaining to a woman, or to women; characteristic
of a woman;
womanish; womanly.
Her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace.
Macaulay. 2. Having the qualities of a woman; becoming or appropriate to the female sex; as, in a good sense,
modest, graceful, affectionate, confiding; or, in a bad sense, weak, nerveless, timid, pleasure-loving, effeminate.
Her heavenly form
Angelic, but more soft
and feminine.
Milton.
Ninus being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogether feminine, and subject to ease and delicacy.
Sir
W. Raleigh. Feminine rhyme.
(Pros.) See Female rhyme, under Female, a.
Syn.
-- See Female,
a.
Hear it pronounced