See Also: womanly(medicine)
womanly(1)(dictionary)
womanly(2)(dictionary)
womanly(dictionary)

womanly(1) (iou)



womanly adjective. ME.
[from WOMAN noun + -LY1.]
(Of a person, an act, etc.) having or showing the qualities or attributes (as gentleness, devotion, fearfulness, etc.) regarded as characteristic of or appropriate for women; (of a quality) characteristic of or appropriate for a woman, feminine. Formerly also, (of a man) effeminate. ME.
Southey Womanly sobs were heard, and manly cheeks Were wet with silent tears. M. Kennedy Telemachus..upbraids his mother for not behaving like a womanly woman. A. Brookner Harmless womanly things, like spending money on clothes.
Having the character of, befitting, or characteristic of a woman as opp. to a girl. E18.
Steele The Girl was very proud of the Womanly Employment of a Nurse. Dickens A short, brown, womanly girl of fourteen.
womanliness noun M16.