[fem.i.nine] adj [ME, fr. MF feminin, fr. L femininus, fr. femina woman; akin to OE delu nipple, L filius son, felix, fetus, & fecundus fruitful, felare to suck, Gk thele nipple] (14c) 1: female 1a
2: characteristic of or appropriate or unique to women
3: of, relating to, or constituting the gender that ordinarily includes most words or grammatical forms referring to females "a ~ noun"
4. a: being an unstressed and usu. hypermetric final syllable "~ ending" b of rhyme: having an unstressed final syllable c: having the final chord occurring on a weak beat "music in ~ cadences" -- fem.i.nine.ly adv -- fem.i.nine.ness n
[2]feminine n (15c) 1 a: a noun, pronoun, adjective, or inflectional form or class of the feminine gender b: the feminine gender
2: the female principle "eternal ~"