[f. WOMANLY a. + -NESS.] The quality of being womanly; womanly character; † effeminateness.

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1538.  Elyot, Dict., Mollicies, et mollicia,… womanlynesse.

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1549.  Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 1 Pet. iii. 1–6. The entier vpryghtnes, godlynes, womanlynes,… and sufferaunce of the wyfe.

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1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., IV. (S.T.S.), I. 214. Throuch the negligence of King Constantine, and his womanlines.

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1647.  Hexham, I. Womanlienesse, vrouwachtigheydt.

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1864.  Reader, 30 April, 564/2. The Portia of Mrs. Vezin is endued with the grace and womanliness that characterize all her performances.

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1876.  J. Parker, Paracl., I. xvi. 259. The womanliness of the Divine nature, its infinite grace and pathos.

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1881.  G. Meredith, Trag. Com., I. vii. 146. The choicest women are those who yield not a feather of their womanliness for some amount of manlike strength.

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