masculine, a. and n.
(ˈmæskjʊlɪn)
Also 4, 6 masculin, 6 masculyne, 7 masculen.
[a. F. masculin, -ine, ad. L. masculīn-us f. mascul-us: see male a. and -ine.]
A. adj.
1. Of persons or animals: Belonging to the male sex; male. Now rare.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. Pr. iii. 28 (Camb. MS.) The oportunite and noblesse of thi masculyn chyldren þat is to seyn thi sones. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. vii. (1495) 91 Yf a woman that is with a chylde masculyn be sodenly callyd, she meuyth first the ryght fote. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 90 Yf the ryghte breste slake or flagge, the masculyne or male byrth is in parell: yf the lefte, the female byrthe. 1604 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 432 The lord shall haue his best oxe or cowe and all his masculen horses. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. i. 20 Patro. Male Varlot you Rogue? What's that? Ther. Why his masculine Whore. 1614 R. Tailor Hog hath lost ii. D, Could any Masculine flatterer on earth So far bewitch thee, to forget thy selfe, As now to leaue me? 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 55 The Masculine, or male Goat. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 890 O why did God..that peopl'd highest Heav'n With Spirits Masculine, create at last..this fair defect Of Nature. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2348/1 God Almighty, as we hope and pray, will grant You an Heir Masculine of your Body. |
b. With reference to the vegetable kingdom: = male a. 2.
| 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 97 The Flowers serve to cherish..the masculine or prolifick Seed contained in the Chives or Apices of the Stamina. |
† 2. Said of inanimate objects to which the male sex was attributed on the ground of some quality, e.g. relative superiority, strength, activity, etc. masculine hour (Astrol.): one ruled by a masculine planet. Obs.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 22 The one [sc. the triangle] imperfect, mortall, fœminine, Th' other [sc. the circle] immortall, perfect, masculine. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 44 Wee haue been taught, that this Planet [the Sun] is Masculine, frying and sucking vp the humidity of all things. 1613 M. Ridley Magn. Bodies 82 The Adamant is Masculine unto his beloved the Iron and Steele, and these are Feminine. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. vii. (1651) 167 The Emperor would not touch his new Bride, till an Astrologer had told him a masculine hour. 1696 Phillips, Masculine Planets or Signs, are those which excel in active Qualities, that is, Heat and Coldness. 1819 J. Wilson Dict. Astrol. 285 Fortunately all the masculine planets are diurnal. Ibid. 286 Masculine signs. |
† b. masculine frankincense, masculine gum = male incense (see male a. 9). Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 79 A greate barell of woodde full of moste excellente masculine frankensence. 1603 B. Jonson K. Jas.'s Entertainm. (1604) D 2 Heere no wight To sacrifice, saue my deuotion comes, That brings, insteed of those thy Masculine gummes. My Cities heart. |
c. The designation of a choice kind of apricot.
| 1629 Parkinson Parad. in Sole (1656) 579 The Mascoline Apricock. 1718 J. Lawrence Fruit-g. Kalendar 78 The latter end of this Month [June] the Masculine Aprecot is ripe. 1860 Hogg Fruit Man. 41 Red Masculine [Apricot]. |
3. Gram. Of or pertaining to the gender to which appellations of males normally belong.
| a 1380 St. Theodora 110 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 36 Hire name, þat was femynyn Of gendre, heo turned in to masculyn. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. iii. (Skeat) I. 14 No mo genders ben there but masculyn and femenyne. 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 24 A substantive of the masculyne gender. 1612 J. Brinsley Lud. Lit. 128 Hee can shew it, to bee the Masculine Gender, because in wordes of three terminations, the first is the Masculine, the second the Feminine, the third is the Neuter. 1875 Expositor 171 Sun and sea and streams had, in the infancy of the world, masculine and feminine names. |
b. Prosody. masculine rime: in French versification, a rime between lines ending in stressed syllables, as opposed to the ‘feminine rime’ ending in a mute e. Hence gen. a ‘single’ rime on a stressed syllable. (Cf. male a. 7.)
| 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 71 Euen the very ryme it selfe, the Italian cannot put in the last silable, by the French named the Masculine ryme. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Rhyme, Masculine Rhymes are those of all other words [than such as end with an e mute]. 1844 [see feminine 6 b]. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. (1871) 201 The verses of the first [stanza] have all of them masculine rhymes. 1891 J. C. Parsons Eng. Versif. 44 Rhyme between final syllables is called single or masculine rhyme. |
4. Pertaining to the male sex; peculiar to or assigned to males; consisting of males.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 257 If nothing lets to make vs happie both, But this my masculine vsurp'd attyre: [etc.]. 1616 H. Gosnold in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1887) II. 20 We ioyne in our thankfull commendaccons to ye all, congratulating of your masculin increase. a 1618 Raleigh Prerog. Parl. (1628) 10 Hee was soone after slaine in Ireland, and his whole Masculine race, ten yeres extinguished. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. i. §4 The People of the same Place..erected a Masculine Church (Women being interdicted the Entrance thereof). 1781 Cowper Hope 686 Whether at the toilet of the fair He laughed and trifled..Or if in masculine debate he shared. 1790 Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) III. 360 The genuine masculine descent of the Princes of Brunswick must be explored beyond the Alps. 1801 C. Smith Lett. Solit. Wand. II. 317 She assumed masculine attire. 1880 H. C. Coote Eng. Gild Knights 17 That peculiar fashion of devolution which the Normans had introduced—masculine primogeniture. |
5. Having the appropriate excellences of the male sex; manly, virile; vigorous, powerful. Rarely of persons; usually of attributes, actions, or productions.
| 1629 H. Burton (title) Babel no Bethel... In answer to..two masculine Champions for the Synagogue of Rome. 1639 N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman i. 35 Masculine spirits very easily resist this tyrannie. 1647 Clarendon Contempl. on Ps. Tracts (1727) 433 The argumentation of Manoah's wife..might very well have become the more masculine understanding. 1678 Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. ii. §89. 473/1 He proved a stout and masculine Prince. a 1704 T. Brown Eng. Sat. Wks. 1730 I. 28 His heat was masculine and always pointed against vice. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 363 ¶10 Adam's Speech abounds with Thoughts..of a more masculine and elevated Turn. 1756–82 J. Warton Ess. Pope (ed. 4) I. vii. 401 note, The forcible and masculine images with which the ancients strengthened their compositions. 1829 Lytton Devereux i. iv, I grew more gentle, and he more masculine. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. Pref. 6 Aeschylus..was famous..for the fearless, masculine licence with which he handled the most flexible of all languages. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Lit. Wks. (Bohn) II. 105, I find..the whole writing of the time charged with a masculine force and freedom. |
† b. Of material things or physical qualities: Powerful in action, strong. (Cf. 2.) Obs.
| 1637 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan (1883) 188 [Herbes] of a more maskuline vertue than any of the same species in England. 1664 Beale Aphor. Cider §57 in Evelyn Pomona 29 Let the Cider be..Masculine and in full body, yet..well tasted of the Apple. 1675 Evelyn Earth (1676) 66 Let this pulveriz'd Earth..be expos'd for a Summer and a Winter to the vicissitudes and changes of the seasons..you will find it will have obtain'd such a generous and masculine pregnancy,..as [etc.]. 1728 Earbery tr. Burnet's St. Dead II. 45 The true Fertility that brings Corn to a Masculine Perfection, is in Countries far from the Equinox. |
6. Of a woman, her qualities or attributes: Having the capacities, manners, appearance, or tastes appropriate to the male sex. † masculine-feminine: a ‘mannish’ woman. Obs.
| 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 1 The masculine women of the Low Countries vse to make voyages for trafficke. 1620 (title) Hic Mulier: or, The Man-Woman: Being a Medicine to cure the Coltish Disease of the Staggers in the Masculine-Feminines of our Times. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. iii. 104 A masculine woman must be naturally an unamiable creature. 1801 Strutt Sp. & Past. Introd. §43. 48 Some of these masculine females have occasionally made their appearance. 1808 Spirit Pub. Jrnls. XI. 86 That masculine feminine, the late Princess Dashkoff. 1838 Thirlwall Greece V. 279 She was a woman of masculine spirit. |
| Comb. 1683 Tryon Way to Health xi. (1697) 192 Neither are any [Women] so..Masculine Spirited. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy 207 A..masculine-looking woman. |
B. n.
1. That which is of the male sex.
| c 1550 Schole-House Women 342 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 118 And all that euer they may imagine, Is to alure the masculine. 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 16 They stept back in wonder to see that beautie, which yet in the masculine they came neere to. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 87 Nature makes the Masculine perfect. |
2. A person of the male sex.
| 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 265 If he had abused himselfe with a masculine..he was forced..to kill himselfe. 1739 G. Ogle Gualtherus & Griselda 107 You, the Masculine, to Labour bred. 1886 E. L. Bynner A. Surriage xxvii. 306, I shall be ill at ease among such an array of masculines. 1890 F. W. Robinson Very Strange Family 63 She flounced out of the room and left the masculines to themselves. |
b. transf. of the signs of the zodiac. (Cf. A. 2.)
| 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 7 Of these Signs, the masculines are fiery and aiery; the Feminines earthly and watery. |
3. Gram. The masculine gender; a word or form of the masculine gender.
| 1530 Palsgr. 67 As consile, miracle be masculynes. Ibid. 70 All adjectives whose masculyn gendre endith in e, have their masculynes and femynines all one. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 90 The plurall of the Masculine is Zebaim, and of the feminine Zebaoth. 1612 [see feminine B. 2]. 1872 Morris Eng. Accid. 83 There are three ways of distinguishing the masculine and feminine in English. |