Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Female
1.
An individual of the sex which conceives and brings forth young, or (in a wider sense) which has an ovary and produces ova.
The male and
female
of each living thing. Drayton.
2.
(Bot.)
A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organs which are capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or fertilization; a pistillate plant.
Fe′male
,Adj.
1.
Belonging to the sex which conceives and gives birth to young, or (in a wider sense) which produces ova; not male.
As patient as the
When that her golden couplets are disclosed.
female
doveWhen that her golden couplets are disclosed.
Shakespeare
2.
Belonging to an individual of the female sex; characteristic of woman; feminine;
“as,
. female
tendernessFemale
usurpation.” Milton.
To the generous decision of a
female
mind, we owe the discovery of America. Belknap.
3.
(Bot.)
Having pistils and no stamens; pistillate; or, in cryptogamous plants, capable of receiving fertilization.
Female rhymes
(Pros.)
, double rhymes, or rhymes (called in French feminine rhymes because they end in e weak, or feminine) in which two syllables, an accented and an unaccented one, correspond at the end of each line.
Female screw
, the spiral-threaded cavity into which another, or male, screw turns.
Nicholson.
– Female fern
(Bot.)
, a common species of fern with large decompound fronds (
Asplenium Filixfæmina
), growing in many countries; lady fern. We apply female to the sex or individual, as opposed to male; also, to the distinctive belongings of women; as, female dress, female form, female character, etc.; feminine, to things appropriate to, or affected by, women; as, feminine studies, employments, accomplishments, etc. “Female applies to sex rather than gender, and is a physiological rather than a grammatical term. Feminine applies to gender rather than sex, and is grammatical rather than physiological.”
Latham.
Webster 1828 Edition
Female
FE'MALE
,Noun.
1.
Among animals, one of that sex which conceives and brings forth young.2.
Among plants, that which produces fruit; that which bears the pistil and receives the pollen of the male flowers.FE'MALE
,Adj.
1.
Noting the sex which produces young; not male; as a female bee.2.
Pertaining to females; as a female hand or heart; female tenderness.To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of America.
3.
Feminine; soft; delicate; weak.Female rhymes, double rhymes, so called from the French, in which language they end in e feminine.