Part 4239

<h1>Felwort</h1> <Xpage=551>

<hw>Fel"wort`</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[Probably a corruption of <ets>fieldwort</ets>.]</ety> <fld>(Bot.)</fld> <def>A European herb (<spn>Swertia perennis</spn>) of the Gentian family.</def>

<h1>Female</h1> <Xpage=551>

<hw>Fe"male</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[OE. <ets>femel</ets>, <ets>femal</ets>, F. <ets>femelle</ets>, fr. L. <ets>femella</ets>, dim. of <ets>femina</ets> woman. See <er>Feminine</er>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>An individual of the sex which conceives and brings forth young, or (in a wider sense) which has an ovary and produces ova.</def>

<blockquote>The male and <b>female</b> of each living thing. <i>Drayton.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Bot.)</fld> <def>A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organs which are capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or fertilization; a pistillate plant.</def>

<h1>Female</h1> <Xpage=551>

<hw>Fe"male</hw>, <tt>a.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Belonging to the sex which conceives and gives birth to young, or (in a wider sense) which produces ova; not male.</def>

<blockquote>As patient as the <b>female</b> dove When that her golden couplets are disclosed. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Belonging to an individual of the female sex; characteristic of woman; feminine; <as>as, <ex>female</ex> tenderness</as>.</def> "<b>Female</b> usurpation.'b8

<i>Milton.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>To the generous decision of a <b>female</b> mind, we owe the discovery of America. <i>Belknap.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Bot.)</fld> <def>Having pistils and no stamens; pistillate; or, in cryptogamous plants, capable of receiving fertilization.</def>

<h1>Female rhymes</h1> <Xpage=551>

<hw>Female rhymes</hw> <fld>(Pros.)</fld>, <def>double rhymes, or rhymes (called in French <i>feminine</i> rhymes because they end in <i>e</i> weak, or <i>feminine</i>) in which two syllables, an accented and an unaccented one, correspond at the end of each line.</def>

<note>&hand; A rhyme, in which the final syllables only agree (<i>strain</i>, <i>complain</i>) is called a male rhyme; one in which the two final syllables of each verse agree, the last being short (<i>motion</i>, <i>ocean</i>), is called <i>female</i>.</note>

<i>Brande & C.</i>

-- <wordforms><wf>Female screw</wf>, the spiral-threaded cavity into which another, or male, screw turns.</wordforms>

<i>Nicholson.</i>

<h1>Female fern</h1> <Xpage=551>

<hw>Female fern</hw> <fld>(Bot.)</fld>, <def>a common species of fern with large decompound fronds (<spn>Asplenium Filixf\'91mina</spn>), growing in many countries; lady fern</def>.

<note>&hand; The names <i>male fern</i> and <i>female fern</i> were anciently given to two common ferns; but it is now understood that neither has any sexual character.</note>

<syn>Syn. -- <er>Female</er>, <er>Feminine</er>.</syn> <usage> We apply <i>female</i> to the sex or individual, as opposed to <i>male</i>; also, to the distinctive belongings of women; as, <i>female</i> dress, <i>female</i> form, <i>female</i> character, etc.; <i>feminine</i>, to things appropriate to, or affected by, women; as, <i>feminine</i> studies, employments, accomplishments, etc. "<i>Female</i> applies to sex rather than gender, and is a physiological rather than a grammatical term. <i>Feminine</i> applies to gender rather than sex, and is grammatical rather than physiological."</usage>

<i>Latham.</i>

<h1>Femal-ist</h1> <Xpage=551>

<hw>Fe"mal-ist</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>A gallant.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>Courting her smoothly like a <b>femalist</b>. <i>Marston.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Femal-ize</h1> <Xpage=551>