manhood
(ˈmænhʊd)
Forms: see man n.1 and -hood.
1. a. The state or condition of being human; human nature.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 986 Þe godcundnesse of godd, for mennesse of his monhad. 1340 Ayenb. 12 Þe þridde article..belongeþ to þe zone as to þe manhode; þet is to zigge ase þet he is man dyadlich. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 30/2 They say that in christo is alone the godhed without the manhod. 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 155/2 All y⊇ textes that seme to make him lesse, be nothynge to be vnderstanden of his godhedde, but of his manhode onely. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer Athan. Creed, Equall to the father as touchyng his Godhead: and inferior to the father as touchyng his manhode. Ibid., By takyng of the manhode into God. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 314 Therefore thy Humiliation shall exalt With thee thy Manhood also to this Throne; Here shalt thou sit incarnate. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. i. i. 222 Keep..A little Pity to distinguish Manhood Lest other Men..should..judge you to be number'd with the Brutes. 1848 R. I. Wilberforce Doctr. Incarn. xv. (1852) 440 That real manhood of Christ our Lord, which binds Him at this moment to collective humanity. 1865 Lowell Harvard Commem. Ode ix, Yea, Manhood hath a wider span And larger privilege of life than man. |
b. The dignity of man.
| c 1400 Arth. & Merl. (Linc. Inn MS.) 1172 (Kölbing) Ȝef y telle þis folk by fore, How þat þow ware gete and bore, Þanne schal hit sprynge wide and brode, Þen hastow lore þy manhod. |
2. The state of being a man: a. as opposed to childhood; b. as opposed to womanhood.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 185 This Elda triste in special Upon a knyht, whom fro childhode He hadde updrawe into manhode. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. C j b, When riper yeares and manhoode made vs strong, Then we knew much, and more still would be showing. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. iv. 195 Pis. [To Imogen, about to disguise herself.] To some shade, And fit you to your Manhood. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 148 Was shee made thy guide, Superior, or but equal, that to her Thou did'st resigne thy Manhood. Ibid. xi. 246 His starrie Helme unbuckl'd shew'd him prime In Manhood where Youth ended. 1725 Watts Logic i. vi. §6 Methuselah, when he was nine hundred and sixty Years old,..was the same Person as when he was in his full Vigour of Manhood, or when he was an Infant, newly born. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 109 Children, as they grew to manhood, inherited the duty of revenging their fathers' deaths. 1882 A. W. Ward Dickens iv. 86 One likes to think of him in these years of vigorous manhood. |
| fig. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 138 The three ages of France: her child-hood, till Pepin: her man-hood, till Capet; her old age, till now. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §34. 123 Is it a disposition befitting spiritual manhood? Is it not characteristically childish? |
3. The qualities eminently becoming a man; manliness, courage, valour. arch.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 184 Ȝit I may as I myȝte menske the with ȝiftes, And mayntene thi manhode more than thow knoweste. c 1392 Chaucer Compl. Venus 4 Remembraunce Upon the manhod and the worthinesse,..Of him whos I am al, whyl I may dure. c 1402 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 333 Notwithstondyng his manhode and his myght, Love unto him did ful grete unright. 1530 Palsgr. 500/2 Whan he is well whyttelled, he wyll crake goodly of his manhode. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 50/1 The Britains aswell with constant manhood, as skilfull practise,..auoided and beat from them the arrowes and darts. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 412 Follow my voice, we'l try no manhood here. 1600 Holland Livy xxv. Argt. 544 That province had beene quite lost, but for the singular manhood and industrie of L. Martius a knight of Rome. 1618 Rowlands Night Raven (1620) 29 Tom of his manhood boasts That he like butter-flies esteemes all Ghoasts. 1829 Hood Eug. Aram xvi, There was a manhood in her look That murder could not kill. 1853 Whittier Hero 75 Peace hath higher tests of manhood Than battle ever knew. |
† 4. Humanity, humaneness. Obs.
| 1432–50 [see manhead 4, quot. 1387]. 1470–85 Malory Arthur v. x. 177 And so wyll I yf thou wylt socoure and ayde me that I maye be crystned and byleue on god. And therof I requyre the of thy manhode. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. iii. 126 Suche tendrenes had been shewen to two, or three [children], as the mothers loked for, and manhode..doth require. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lxix. 27 Inasmuche as manhod willeth to succour the afflicted. |
† 5. Homage. Obs.
| 1340 Ayenb. 19 He ys wel renay þet þet land þet he halt of his lhorde deth in-to þe hond of his uyende, and deþ him manhode. Ibid., He deþ manhode to the dyeule, and becomþ his þrel. |
6. Men collectively; the adult male members of a population, nation, or the like.
| 1588 Copy Let. sent to Mendoza 27 The Lord Strange, the Earls sonne, and all the manhood of Lancashire and Cheshire, would goe ouer the Seas and fetch the Earle home. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 15 The whole manhood of Greece fought the battell of Salamis. 1609 ― Amm. Marcell. 115 There followed a multitude of all sorts and degrees, picked and chosen out of the manhood of the nations adjoyning. 1640 Yorke Union Hon., Battells 1 In the Rere-guard was the Duke himselfe, with his whole manhoode of Normans. |
7. attrib.: manhood suffrage, that form of popular election in which the suffrage is granted to all male citizens of lawful age not disqualified by crime, insanity, etc.
| 1859 Disraeli in Hansard Commons 31 Mar. 1245 Why, Sir, I have no apprehension myself that if you had manhood suffrage tomorrow the honest, brave, and good-natured people of England would resort to pillage, incendiarism, and massacre. 1864 Q. Rev. CXVI. 262 If Mr Gladstone is generally supposed to have taken up the battle-cry of manhood suffrage, he has only himself to thank for it. 1867 John 1st Earl Russell Let. 27 Mar. in B. & P. Russell Amberley Papers (1937) II. 24 Dizzy must know that, & I believe means ‘Manhood suffrage’. 1873 tr. Strauss' Old Faith & New lxxxi. 329. 1877 R. Lowe in Fortn. Rev. Dec. 728. |
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Add: [2.] c. spec. The sexual potency of a man; virility. d. The male genitalia; the penis.
| 1640 H. Glapthorne Hollander v. sig. I. 4, You have excellent salves and unguents sir... Have you never a one that will eat off the wen of manhood, make all whole before that will eunuchise a man, I would faine be a Hermaphrodite, or a woman to escape this match. 1689 Upon King's Voy. to Chatham in Coll. Poems on Affairs of State 19, I wish this sad Accident don't spoil the young Prince, Take off all his Manhood and make him a Wench. a 1704 T. Brown tr. Beroaldus Declam. in Defence Gaming in Wks. (1708) III. 134 A Man depriv'd of his Manhood..by an Inundation of Claret. 1709 E. Ward Secret Hist. Clubs xxviii. 325 They make themselves merry, when they are met o'er their Claret, interposing now and then, either extraordinary Commendations of their Husbands Manhood, or some witty Reflections on their slender Qualifications. 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman Pleasure I. 168 On my first stirring, which was not till past ten o'clock, I was oblig'd to endure one more trial of his manhood. 1809 ‘D. Knickerbocker’ Hist. N.Y. II. vi. i. 69 To manhood roused, he spurns the amorous flute. 1967 T. W. Blackburn Good Day to Die xix. 145, I have but one living son... If I do not speak the truth, let the white man's pox strike him and his manhood rot in his clout. 1975 I. McEwan First Love, Last Rites (1976) 21 My blood pounding, my manhood proudly stirring. 1991 Sun 28 Feb. 19/2 Topless kissogram girl Linzi Berry went on sick leave suffering from shock—after a naked miner coshed her with his manhood. |