Definition of: female

(fē′māl) adjective
1. Of or pertaining to the sex that brings forth young or produces ova.
2. Characteristic of a woman; feminine.
3. Bot. Designating a plant which has a pistil but no stamen; pistillate; capable of being fertilized and producing fruit.
4. Mech. Denoting some object having a correlative known as the male; specifically, a part having a hollow or bore into which the correlative may enter.
5. Obs. Effeminate. See synonyms under FEMININE.
—noun
1. A person or animal of the female sex. ◆ The use of the word to mean a woman is a survival of an old English usage now regarded with disfavor by good speakers and writers. But female is correctly used as the correlative of male, whether the latter be expressed or not: “Statistics of population show that there is an excess of females in many cities.”
2. A pistillate plant. [<OF femelle <L femella, dim. of femina woman]