▪ I. † male, n.1 Obs.
Also mele.
[ad. L. māl-us apple-tree, māl-um apple.]
An apple; an apple-tree. Also Comb. as male-apple, male-apple-tree.
| a 1400 Song Solomon [ii. 3] in Rel. Ant. I. 40 As the male is plentiuouse of apples..so is my derlyng among sones. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb., Tabula, Male appeltreen. Male applis. Ibid. xi. 259 This mone also the male [orig. mali] is sett to sprynge; This male is sette in londis hoot & drie. |
▪ II. male, a. and n.2
(meɪl)
Forms: 5, 7 masle, 4 madle, mawl, maal, maule; Sc. 5–6 maill, 6 mail, 7 maile; 4– male. (See also mascle a.)
[a. OF. male, masle (mod.F. mâle), earlier mascle:—L. masculus (f. mās male person, male), whence masculine a. Cf. Pr. mascle, Sp., Pg. macho, It. maschio.
The spelling masle was the prevailing one in Law French, and in legal use appears in Eng. down to the 17th c. Sir T. Browne is the only non-legal writer of the 17th c. who uses it: doubtless as suggesting the original Latin etymon.]
A. adj. I. Of or belonging to the sex which begets offspring, or performs the fecundating function of generation.
1. a. of persons. In Law: heir male, issue male, line male, tail male. (In early, esp. legal use, often pl. males.)
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xx. 130 Gif it fell that his sone Davy Deit but air male of his body Gottyn. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 236, I circumcised..my meyne and alle þat male were. 1382 [see female a. 1]. c 1450 Merlin 88 She is now leide down in his bedde of a childe male. 1450 Rolls of Parlt. V. 188/1 To hym and to his heires masles of his body lawfully begoten. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 25 And for defawte of yssew male of the seid Robert than I wil John Baret..haue it, to hym and to his eyres male. ? a 1500 Sir Beues 3392 (Pynson) Yonge male chyldren two. c 1500 Melusine 18 He begate on her many children males. 1563 Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. Wks. 1888 I. 82 The maill barne nocht circumcidit the auchtin day. 1595 Shakes. John iii. iv. 76 Caine, the first male-childe. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, ii. iv. 189 My Ladies wombe..conceiu'd a male-child by me. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 196 Reseruing..the reuersion to themselues in default of heires masles. 1647–8 Sir C. Cotterell Davila's Hist. Fr. (1678) 6 In the male-line of their Predecessors. 1752 Hume Pol. Disc. x. 166 All masters discourage the marrying of their male servants. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 315 An estate in tail male was vested in Edmund Hicks, as heir male of the body of Launcelot Hicks. 1847 Tennyson Princess Prol. 151, I would make it death For any male thing but to peep at us. |
b. of animals.
| c 1400 Master of Game xxxiv. (MS. Digby 182), She [the hare] oþer while is male..and oþere while is female. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 323/1 Male, best or fowle, no femel, masculus. a 1500 [see female a. 1 b]. 1530 Palsgr. 242/1 Male gote, bovc. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. iv. 30 There is no more mercy in him, then there is milke in a male-Tyger. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VII. 258/1 This operation [castration] may be performed both on male and female fish. 1855 W. S. Dallas Syst. Nat. Hist. I. 348 In the autumn, male and female insects are found, furnished with perfect generative organs. 1902 Oxford Times 22 Feb. 2/1 For sale..3 hens and 1 male bird. |
| absol. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 45 Sche sih the bestes in her kinde,..The madle go with the femele. |
c. In male † kind (also attrib.), male sex (see sex).
| 1382 Wyclif Luke ii. 23 For ech male kynde openynge the wombe to go out, schal be clepid hooly to the Lord. 1530 Palsgr. 318/1 Male of the male kynde, masle. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. Sat. iv. (Grosart) 51 A male-kind sparrow once mistooke his nest And fled for harbour to faire Liuias breast. 1611 Cotgr., Masculeyté, Manhood, or the male kind. 1681 R. Knox Hist. Ceylon 41 The Malekind may come and see him, but no Women are admitted. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 119 A smaller bird Tercellene or Tassel of the masle sex. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Male-kind. |
d. Said of the reproductive organs of this sex.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 254 They took from them [stoned horses] their male parts. 1836–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 140/1 The male-duct..terminates at the anterior extremity of the body. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 472 Neomenia carinata [a mollusc] has been said to possess lateral male ducts. |
e. Used jocularly to qualify female designations, e.g. male aunt = uncle; male bawd = pander, etc.; also to qualify female conditions, as male widowhood, the condition of being a widower. Also used, not jocularly, in referring to professions that are usually considered to be predominantly female, as male midwife, male model, male nurse, male prostitute.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 100 They fall into a kinde of Male Greene-sicknesse. 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. i. ii, When base male-Bawdes kept Centinell at staire-head. 1681 Otway Soldier's Fort. ii. i, Your Go-between, your Male-Baud there. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 288 ¶1 Which has given me Encouragement to describe a certain Species of Mankind under the Denomination of Male Jilts. Ibid. ¶2 They whom my correspondent calls Male Coquets, shall hereafter be called Fribblers. Ibid. No. 320 ¶1 You have published the Term Male-Coquets. 1712 Francham ibid. No. 520 ¶1, I cannot but recommend the Subject of Male Widowhood to you. 1755 J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) I. 59 When a new work is advertised, the male and female ladies..immediately conclude it cannot be worth the reading. 1770–93 [see coquette 1 c]. 1781 F. Burney Diary II. 87 He is an actual Male prude! 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. My relations, Male aunts, as somebody calls them, I had none—to remember. 1878 Trollope John Caldigate (1879) II. iv. 45 He took the child very gently... He had already assumed for himself the character of being a good male nurse. 1915 Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Diary 12 Mar. (1971) 58 It is very difficult to get the right type of man to be a male nurse. 1948 A. Kinsey et al. Sexual Behavior in Human Male vi. 216 Some male prostitutes ejaculate five, six, or more times per day with regularity over long periods of years. 1961 S. Baker Visual Persuasion ii. 47/2 Male model agencies and actors' guilds always have a few personalities on hand. 1972 ‘W. Haggard’ Protectors vi. 71 The man in the chair..was kept alive by two male nurses. 1974 Mother & Baby Feb. 44 (heading) Would you like a male midwife? 1974 H. Waugh Parrish for Defence (1975) xix. 321 He is presently serving as a male prostitute for other males. 1975 Times 11 Mar. 4/8 It would be wrong to rule out male midwives as a matter of principle. 1975 ‘G. Black’ Big Wind vii. 114 He looked like a male model in one of those ads for expensive men's knitwear. |
f. Comb.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay vi. 63 God..who is also Minde, & life and Light, and Malefemale [marg. ἀρρενόθηλυς], begat or bred Logon the Speach. 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus ii. ii. (1605) D 3 b, That male-spirited Dame, Their Mother. 1774 Westm. Mag. II. 453 You will see behind a Perfumer's counter..a Male-Female Thing of this sort. |
2. With reference to the vegetable kingdom. a. Said of certain plants (of diœcious genera) the flowers of which contain only the fecundating organs. Subsequently said also of the fecundating organs of plants, and of flowers containing only organs of this kind. male-sterile a., (of a hermaphrodite plant) incapable of producing fertile pollen; so male-sterility.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P. R. xvii. ii. (1495) 597 Yf..the rynde of a male palme be put to the leuys of the female..the fruyte..shall be the sooner rype. a 1400 Stockh. Medical MS. ii. 715 in Anglia XVIII. 324 In a vessell..Putte hem, & þou schalt sene Wyche is femel & wyche is male. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa vi. 268 Of date-trees some are male and some are female. 1789 G. White Selborne v. (1853) 209 This is a male tree, which in the spring sheds clouds of dust, and fills the atmosphere around with its farina. 1791 Gentl. Mag. 2/2 The catkins which appear in January are the male parts of a nut-tree. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) I. 188 In the Ribes alpinum, the male and female flowers are sometimes found on different plants. 1871 Kingsley At Last i, In the midst of the yard grew, side by side,..a male and female Papaw. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 448 The resemblance of the male flowers to the inflorescence of Equisetum is as striking [etc.]. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. vi. §1. 165 The Stamens are the male or fertilizing organs of a flower. 1921 Jrnl. Genetics XI. 269 (heading) Male-sterility in flax, subject to two types of segregation. Ibid. 271 In the breeding work it was not thought necessary to emasculate the male-sterile flowers. 1946 Nature 21 Sept. 422/2 Further tabulation of male-sterility genes in varieties of the onion is given. 1959 New Biol. XXVIII. 75 Certain willow-herb crosses which produce male-sterile progeny. |
b. Applied to certain plants to which sex was formerly attributed on account of some peculiarity of habit, colour, etc. male fern, Asplenium (Nephrodium) Filix-mas; also attrib.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 3 The vertues of the male ferne. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cclxix. (1633) 773 The male Mullein or Higtaper hath broad leaves. 1639 T. de Grey Compl. Horseman 319 Take the root of male brake or fearn. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 133 Paul's Betony or Male Speedwell. 1779 M. Underwood Dis. Childr. (ed. 4) I. 147 The male fern alone is reckoned a specific [for worms]. 1838 Lindley Flora Med. 512 Purga Macho, or Male Jalap. 1871 Kingsley At Last v, Here and there a young one [palm] springing up like a gigantic crown of male-fern. 1877 tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. VII. 702 Male fern-root. |
II. 3. a. Of or pertaining to a man or men, or to male animals; peculiar to or characteristic of men; composed or consisting of men.
| a 1631 Donne Progr. Soul i. 12 By thy male force is all wee have begot. 1682 R. Burton Admir. Curios. (1684) 67 It was after altered into a Male-Nunnery. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 198 The ancients..have suppos'd that there was something of an æthereal element in the male-geniture. 1710–11 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 26 Feb., They keep as good female company as I do male. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 233 Profaned,..under various names, Female and male. 1804–5 Wordsw. Prelude iii. 56 Trinity's loquacious clock..told the hours Twice over with a male and female voice. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man (1888) 393 The common drake..after the breeding season is well known to lose his male plumage for a period of three months. 1900 Daily News 18 Sept. 4/6 A case filled with moths whose right wings belong to the male coloration. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 3 Feb. 9/1 It is intended to form a male voice choir. |
b. Appropriate or adapted to the use of a man.
| 1788 J. Ware in Mem. Med. Soc. II. 336 Strictures on the Use of the Male Catheter. 1828 Sir A. Halliday Pres. St. Lunatics 98, 1 Matron for Male Hospital. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 986 A large soft rubber male catheter. |
III. transf. Applied to various material and immaterial things, denoting superiority, strength, greatness, or the like.
† 4. In occasional applications. Obs.
| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 371 As in France, so in all other wine countries, the white is called the female, and the claret or red wine is called the male, because commonly it hath more sulphur, body, and heat in it. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. ix. (1653) 48, I shall provoke unto the best Improvement, and where there can be a Male-Improvement offer not to the Common-Wealth a Female. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 150 Other Suns perhaps With their attendant Moons thou wilt descrie Communicating Male and Female Light. |
† 5. a. Said of precious stones, on account of depth, brilliance or other accident of colour; also of other stones, with reference to their hardness or other esteemed qualities. [Gr. ἄρρην, L. masculus.]
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xiv. 158 Thei [the dyamandes] growen to gedre, male and femele. 1681 Grew Musæum 290 The Sardius or Cornelian,..The best, by some called The Male. Ibid. 297 The Florid Male Eagle-Stone. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 58/2 The Stones found in Rivers, which are call'd Male ones,..grow dry immediately when..taken out of the water. 1855 Browning Saul viii, Lordly male-sapphires. |
† b. Used to distinguish the harder and more compact kind of sand or gravel. Obs.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 409 The hard and compact gravell called the Male gravell [L. sabulum masculum]. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey iv. Concl. 87 A faire Pond..springing from the West forth of a male grauell. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 105/2 The male-sand [It. sabbione maschio] and the hard grit are sure to afford the best of water. 1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 65 The male or bastard tin-stone is found..on Dartmoor. |
† 6. male incense. [So in L. and Fr.] A superior quality of incense, known by the greater size of the ‘tears’ in which it is collected; frankincense. Obs.
| 1598 W. Phillip tr. Linschoten's Voy. i. lxxii. 119 Frankinsence is of two sorts, one white, that is round and like vnto drops, which is the best, and called the masle; the other blacke. 1647 Herrick Noble Numb., Dirge Jephthah's Dau. xiii, May Virgins, when they come to mourn, Male-Incense burn Upon thine Altar! 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Frankincense, Male incense, or olibanum. |
7. Of rime: = masculine.
| 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 71 The French..hath both the Male [ryme], as Bon, Son, and the Female, as Plaise, Taise. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 486/1 These mono-syllable or last-syllable rhymes are called male rhymes. 1896 S. W. Barnum Vocab. Eng. Rhymes (ed. 2) Introd. 16 Part I consists of single or male rhymes. |
8. Said of the external layer of bark on a tree.
| 1884 [see female A. 8]. |
IV. 9. a. A distinctive epithet for that part of an instrument or contrivance which is adapted to penetrate or fill the corresponding female part.
| a 1856 H. Miller in Footpr. Creator (1874) 342 The male half of the hinge belongs to the head, and the female half to the jaw. 1884 Britten Watch & Clockm. 274 Steel runners with male centres are handy when turning bouchons. 1889 Mayne's Med. Voc., Female..the part of a double-limbed instrument which receives the male or corresponding part. |
b. (See quot.)
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xii. 433/1 There is no difference between the male and female Trepan, but for the pin in the middle which the female wants. |
c. male gauge: the outer gauge or screw of a printing press. male screw: the spiral pin or rod which fits the spirally bored circular socket of the ‘female’ screw.
| 1669 Boyle Contn. New Exp. ii. (1682) 11 A Female Screw, to receive the Male-screw of the Stop-cock. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xix. 170 So as the Male-Gages may fall into the Female-Gages. 1822 J. Imison Sci. & Art I. 48 The first is called the Male or outside screw. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. xv. 361 Their use is to connect together stop-cocks..terminated by male screws. 1856 C. Carey in Abr. Specif. Patents, Writ. Instr. (1869) 210 At each of the four angles of one is fixed an upright male screw. |
B. n.
1. A male animal.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 337 Ay þou meng with þe malez þe mete ho-bestez. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P. R. vi. xii. (1495) 196 In all kynde of beestes the male is more crafti. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. i. 19 The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowles Are their males subjects. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Ep. Ded. A 2, Musing Dick, that studied a whole yeare to know which was the male and female of red herrings. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 236/1 A Boccaret [Hawk] is the Male of a Boccarell. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 420 The furious Mare, Barr'd from the Male, is frantick with Despair. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 314 There are some of the males who attach themselves to the female. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xix. (ed. 2) 363 The glow-worm is a female caterpillar; the male of which is a fly. 1857 Househ. Words 19 Dec. 16 No less than sixteen of these little animals (all males). |
| fig. 1871 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. Carlyle (1878) 175 Carlylism is the male of Byronism. |
2. a. A male person; a boy or man. Only in expressed or implied antithesis with female.
| 13.. E. E. Allit. P. B. 695 Vch male mas his mach a man as hymseluen. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 60 For thar mycht succed na female, Quhill foundyn mycht be ony male. 1382 Wyclif Rom. i. 27 The mawlis [gloss or men] the kyndeli vss of womman forsakyn. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 565 The ende is deþ of male & of femele. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. i. 42 You loue the Breeder better than the Male. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 36 Sic heires being mailes, the perfite age is twentie ane zeares. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 73 That [crown] of Pharaoh was only for masles, not for feminin capacitie. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 168 Whence of guests he makes them slaves Inhospitably, and kills their infant Males. 1809 in Earl Malmesbury's Lett. (1870) II. 204, I am the only male here that is not gone hunting. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 574 Every male in the kingdom who had attained the age of sixteen. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. x. 481 Every male who resisted was put to the sword. |
b. occas. A male plant. (Cf. A. 2, 2 b.)
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 12 [Pimpernel.] The male hath a crimsin floure, & the female hath a blewe floure. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa vi. 268 The flowers of the female will not open, vnlesse the boughes and flowers of the male be ioined vnto them. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. vi. 94 Herbalists..naming that the masle, whose leaves are lighter. |
3. A ‘male’ precious stone. (Cf. A. 5 a.)
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Sapphire, ..Different colours constitute different kinds thereof; the deepest blues being esteemed males, and the whitest females. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 152 A milder flame is assigned to the females, but a yellower and more fervent to the males. |
4. Comb. male climacteric, male menopause, male pill, male supremacist (also attrib.), male supremacy; male-determining, male-dominated adjs.; male chauvinism, an attitude attributed to men of excessive loyalty to members of the male sex and of prejudice against women; hence male chauvinist, one who adopts this attitude; also attrib., esp. in phr. male chauvinist pig; male impersonator, a female who impersonates a male on the stage.
| 1970 Time 17 Aug. 23 European women have accepted their lot much more readily than their American counterparts. Recently, however, growing numbers..have launched their attack on male chauvinism. 1973 O. Lancaster Littlehampton Bequest 84 Their marriage has always been a completely unselfish relationship, both taking an active part in the struggle against Imperialism, Neo-Colonialism and Male Chauvinism. |
| 1970 New Yorker 5 Sept. 27/1 Hello, you male-chauvinist racist pig. Ibid., Repent Male Chauvinists. 1972 Southerly XXXII. 75 The male chauvinist aspects of mateship have come in for considerable discussion since the spread of women's liberation critiques. 1972 Punch 1 Mar. 289/1, I know, I know; me male chauvinist pig, you Jane. But the exercise has finally woken me up to ask—why should there be separate magazines for men and women at all? 1974 J. Heller Something Happened 333, I enjoy fucking my wife. She lets me do it any way I want. No Women's Liberation for her. Lots of male chauvinist pig. |
| 1966 G. B. Mair Kisses from Satan vii. 78 I've got a male climacteric and I don't like it. 1972 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 8 Feb. 2/1 Men may experience a certain slackening in sexual interest that may be related to what medical literature calls ‘male climacteric’ (a retrogression of the sex glands). |
| 1931, 1957 Male-determining [see female B. n. 3]. |
| 1958 W. J. H. Sprott Human Groups 65 The home..is in certain important respects male-dominated. 1964 W. McCord in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. xxv. 434 The city is a male-dominated area (more men enter the city seeking jobs than women). 1973 I. Singer Goals of Human Sexuality i. 33 She submits to the relationship as a way of conforming to the demands of a male-dominated society. |
| 1895 Stuart & Park Variety Stage 222 Serio⁓comics, sisters, dancers, male impersonators, and ballad and character vocalists. 1930 Bulletin 14 May 5 That popular male impersonator and pantomime principal boy, Miss Nora Delany. 1972 Times 29 Sept. 16/8 To the connoisseurs of the music hall there have been only two great male impersonators, one of whom was Vesta Tilley, the other Hetty King. |
| 1949 Ernst & Loth Sexual Behaviour & Kinsey Report viii. 93 Another reason which has sometimes been given is that many men reach in middle age a climacteric which is dubbed a male menopause. 1963 E. Lanham Monkey on Chain xii. 195 You think dirty, you act dirty—like a dirty old man. What is it? Male menopause? 1971 J. Wainwright Last Buccaneer ii. 187 Middle-aged men get odd ideas. It's a sort of male menopause—a change of life. |
| 1966 New Statesman 27 May 767/1 Techniques like the ‘male pill’, tying of the spermatic cords..are in use or under investigation. |
| 1971 Black Scholar Dec. 7/2 Excepting the woman's role as caretaker of the household, male supremacist structures could not become deeply embedded in the internal workings of the slave system. 1973 J. Jones Touch of Danger xxviii. 167 You just don't want to understand Jane... She's a threat to all you male supremacists. |
| 1908 Chesterton Man who was Thursday i. 12 Most of the women were of the kind vaguely called emancipated, and professed some protest against male supremacy. |
Add: [B.] [4.] male bonding, (the formation of) friendship and loyalty between males, esp. between a particular pair of male associates; cf. *bonding vbl. n. 4.
| 1969 L. Tiger Men in Groups ii. 18 In this chapter I want to try to indicate the importance of *male bonding in a number of animal communities. 1977 J. Weeks Coming Out (1979) x. 116 His [sc. D. H. Lawrence's] ideas..later became bitterly anti-homosexual, even while he extolled the virtues of male bonding. 1986 N.Z. Listener 15 Feb. 50/2 F F Coppola found a part for him in his beautifully filmed but simple-minded male-bonding advertisement Rumble Fish. |
Add: [B.] [4.] male-chauviˈnistic a., characterized by or exhibiting male chauvinism.
| 1968 Ramparts May 12/3 What disturbs me most is..the *male chauvinistic attitude toward all women's activity. 1989 R. Waterfield Before Eureka vii. 81 Unusually for the male-chauvinistic Greeks, Empedocles allowed that both the man and the woman contribute towards their offspring's nature. |
▪ III. † male, n.3 Obs.
A word of obscure origin and meaning, occurring in certain phrases. the male wryes or wrings: something is wrong, there is a state of hardship. to wring (a person) on the males: to cause trouble to. (Quot. a 1500 is obscure, perh. textually corrupt.)
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 43 The male so wryes, That no kunnyng may prevayl..Ayens a wommans wytt. ? a 1500 Wisdom 669 in Digby Myst. 163 Ther pouert is the male wry, though right be, he shall neuer renewe. c 1522 Skelton Why nat to Court 75, The countrynge at Cales Wrang vs on the males. ― Colyn Cloute 688 And so they blere your eye, That ye can not espye Howe the male dothe wrye. ― Phyllyp Sparowe 700 Yet there was a thyng That made the male to wryng. |
▪ IV. male
obs. form of mail, meal, mole.