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the female human being, as distinguished from a girl or a man.
an adult female person.
a female attendant to a lady of rank.
a wife.
the nature, characteristics, or feelings often attributed to women; womanliness.
a sweetheart or paramour; mistress.
a female employee or representative:
A woman from the real estate agency called.
a female person who cleans house, cooks, etc.; housekeeper:
The woman will be in to clean today.
women collectively:
Woman is no longer subordinate to man.
to put into the company of a woman.
to equip or staff with women.
Obsolete. to cause to act or yield like a woman.
of women; womanly.
female:
a woman plumber.
be one’s own woman, (of females) to be free from restrictions, control, or dictatorial influence; be independent.
a combining form of woman:
chairwoman; forewoman; spokeswoman.
Contemporary Examples

Glazier responded by branding the woman a witch and began to utter imprecatory prayers.
Inside Sarah’s Church Max Blumenthal September 4, 2009

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
The Conservative Crusade For Christian Sharia Law Dean Obeidallah February 17, 2014

“Right now Ebola is in the U.S., ISIS is over there,” said a Louisiana woman.
Why Voters Are So Totally Checked Out Eleanor Clift October 21, 2014

“This is New York,” Batali told the woman cook who complained.
Anthony Bourdain and Top Chef Have It Wrong: the Boys’ Club Is No Fun Tracie McMillan March 1, 2012

Sofía, a 25-year-old woman who has applied for asylum and also requested anonymity, was held for two weeks.
Immigrants Held in Border Deep Freezers Rachael Bale, The Center for Investigative Reporting November 18, 2013

Historical Examples

Le Duc came in to announce a woman, whose name I did not know.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

Only don’t let the first woman that comes ridin’ herd get her iron on you.
The Spenders Harry Leon Wilson

As he passed along the road a woman was pounding away in front of him.
Russian Fairy Tales W. R. S. Ralston

Now tell me just what you expect a woman in my position to do.
The Spenders Harry Leon Wilson

No man is ever too old to look at a woman, and no woman is ever too fat to hope that he will look.
A Book of Burlesques H. L. Mencken

noun (pl) women (ˈwɪmɪn)
an adult female human being
(modifier) female or feminine: a woman politician, woman talk
women collectively; womankind
the woman, feminine nature or feelings: babies bring out the woman in her
a female servant or domestic help
a man considered as having supposed female characteristics, such as meekness or timidity
(informal) a wife, mistress, or girlfriend
(informal) the little woman, one’s wife
woman of the streets, a prostitute
verb (transitive)
(rare) to provide with women
(obsolete) to make effeminate
n.

late Old English wimman (plural wimmen), literally “woman-man,” alteration of wifman (plural wifmen), a compound of wif “woman” (see wife) + man “human being” (in Old English used in reference to both sexes; see man (n.)). Cf. Dutch vrouwmens “wife,” literally “woman-man.”

The formation is peculiar to English and Dutch. Replaced older Old English wif and quean as the word for “female human being.” The pronunciation of the singular altered in Middle English by the rounding influence of -w-; the plural retains the original vowel. Meaning “wife,” now largely restricted to U.S. dialectal use, is attested from mid-15c. Women’s liberation is attested from 1966; women’s rights is from 1840, with an isolated example in 1630s.

verb phrase

To eat voraciously; gobble: wolfed down the grilled cheese
tool
A replacement for the Unix man documentation browsing command. Version 1.157 of woman runs under/on 386BSD, OSF, Apollo Domain/OS, BSD, HP-UX, IBM RS-6000, Irix, Linux, Solaris, Sony NEWS, SunOS, Ultrix, Unicos.
Posted to comp.sources.reviewed Volume 3, Issue 50 on 05 Jul 1993 by Arne Henrik Juul , archive-name woman-1.157.
FTP USC, USA (ftp://usc.edu/archive/usenet/sources/comp.sources.reviewed/volume3/woman-1.157/). FTP Imperial, UK (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/comp.sources.reviewed/volume3/woman-1.157/).
(1995-03-21)

was “taken out of man” (Gen. 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. “The head of the woman is the man;” but yet honour is to be shown to the wife, “as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Cor. 11:3, 8, 9; 1 Pet. 3:7). Several women are mentioned in Scripture as having been endowed with prophetic gifts, as Miriam (Ex. 15:20), Deborah (Judg. 4:4, 5), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Neh. 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36, 37), and the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8, 9). Women are forbidden to teach publicly (1 Cor. 14:34, 35; 1 Tim. 2:11, 12). Among the Hebrews it devolved upon women to prepare the meals for the household (Gen. 18:6; 2 Sam. 13:8), to attend to the work of spinning (Ex. 35:26; Prov. 31:19), and making clothes (1 Sam. 2:19; Prov. 31:21), to bring water from the well (Gen. 24:15; 1 Sam. 9:11), and to care for the flocks (Gen. 29:6; Ex. 2:16). The word “woman,” as used in Matt. 15:28, John 2:4 and 20:13, 15, implies tenderness and courtesy and not disrespect. Only where revelation is known has woman her due place of honour assigned to her.

see:

feel like oneself (new woman)
marked man (woman)
(woman) of few words
own person (woman)
right-hand man (woman)
scarlet woman