[f. prec. + -ITY.]
1. The quality or condition of a female; female nature. Now rare.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xvii. 148. If in the minority of naturall vigor, the parts of feminality take place.
1702. Farquhar, Inconstant, IV. ii. Not half so much as devoting ’em [a beautiful face and person] to a pretty fellow. If our feminality had no business in this world, why was it sent hither?
1883. Mrs. Lynn Linton, Social Ess., II. 10. Thinking … womanhood a mistake in exact proportion to its feminality.
2. pl. only concr. or quasi-concr. a. The personality of a woman; a female person. b. A female trait or peculiarity. c. Something that women delight in; a knick-knack.
1825. New Monthly Mag., XIV. 262. Ladies are not permitted to advance their feminalities beyond so chaste a threshold.
1834. Tait’s Mag., I. 204. Certain feminalities … peep through every page.
1840. Mrs. Trollope, The Life and Adventures of Charles Chesterfield, in New Monthly Mag., LX. 199. Notwithstanding all these pretty ‘feminalities,’ there was one spot in the room that had a sort of mysterious homeliness.
