I. (|)shē, _shi pronoun
Etymology: Middle English she, sho, probably alteration of hye, hyo, alteration of Old English hīe, hīo, hēo — more at he
1. : that female one
she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius — Shakespeare
: that one regarded as feminine (as by personification)
if Nature … refused to reproduce the effect he wanted, he would patiently return, evening after evening, until she did — Hesketh Pearson
I bought a motorcycle … and she was a dandy — Burl Ives
— used as nominative feminine pronoun of the third person singular usually in reference to a previously specified subject or to someone identified by an accompanying relative clause or prepositional phrase; usually considered impolite when used in reference to a woman or girl who has not previously been mentioned by name or referred to by means of an identifying noun; sometimes in poetry and in substandard speech used pleonastically together with a noun as subject to a verb
the Liner she 's a lady — Rudyard Kipling
— see her I, her III, hers I; compare he , it , they
2. Scotland : i , you , he — used especially in literary representations of the English spoken by Scottish Highlanders
3. : you
did she bump her little head
— compare he I 4
4.
a. substandard : her — used in a compound object
between the boy and she
b. dialect chiefly Britain : her — used emphatically as object of a verb or preposition
the earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she — Shakespeare
no fit place for she — James Spilling
II. ˈshē noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from she, pron.
1. : a female person or animal
you are the cruelest she alive — Shakespeare
— often used in compounds
she -cat
she -cousin
2.
a. : one that is feminine in composition or characteristics — used in compounds
she -poetry
she -society
b. : a plant that resembles one of a different species that is regarded as better — used in compounds
she -balsam
she -oak
III. noun
( plural she or shes )
Usage: usually capitalized
1. : a people inhabiting the mountains in the interior borderland between Chekiang and Fukien provinces of China
2. : a member of the She people