eˈffeminateness
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
1. The quality or condition of being effeminate or womanish; unmanly softness or weakness.
| 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 59 An Art..not of effeminatenes, but of..stirring of courage. 1639 Fuller Holy War ii. xxvii. (1840) 84 They sent a distaff and a spindle..as upbraiding their effeminateness. 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy (1698) Pref. 19 My young traveller should leave behind him..all effeminateness. 1812 H. C. Robinson Diary 17 June in Earle Philol. Eng. Tong. §322 His sensibility..is in danger of being mistaken for effeminateness. |
† 2. (Cf. effeminate a. 3.) Obs.
| 1648 Hexham Dutch Dict. (1660) Verwijvinge, effeminatenesse, or given to women. |