'Female fern' definitions:

Definition of 'Female fern'

From: GCIDE
  • Female \Fe"male\, a.
  • 1. Belonging to the sex which conceives and gives birth to young, or (in a wider sense) which produces ova; not male. [1913 Webster]
  • As patient as the female dove When that her golden couplets are disclosed. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Belonging to an individual of the female sex; characteristic of woman; feminine; as, female tenderness. "Female usurpation." --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of America. --Belknap. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Bot.) Having pistils and no stamens; pistillate; or, in cryptogamous plants, capable of receiving fertilization. [1913 Webster]
  • Female rhymes (Pros.), double rhymes, or rhymes (called in French feminine rhymes because they end in e weak, or feminine) in which two syllables, an accented and an unaccented one, correspond at the end of each line. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: A rhyme, in which the final syllables only agree (strain, complain) is called a male rhyme; one in which the two final syllables of each verse agree, the last being short (motion, ocean), is called female. --Brande & C.
  • Female screw, the spiral-threaded cavity into which another, or male, screw turns. --Nicholson.
  • Female fern (Bot.), a common species of fern with large decompound fronds (Asplenium Filixf[ae]mina), growing in many countries; lady fern. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The names male fern and female fern were anciently given to two common ferns; but it is now understood that neither has any sexual character.
  • Syn: Female, Feminine.
  • Usage: We apply female to the sex or individual, as opposed to male; also, to the distinctive belongings of women; as, female dress, female form, female character, etc.; feminine, to things appropriate to, or affected by, women; as, feminine studies, employments, accomplishments, etc. "Female applies to sex rather than gender, and is a physiological rather than a grammatical term. Feminine applies to gender rather than sex, and is grammatical rather than physiological." --Latham. [1913 Webster]