mannishness en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree English mannish Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English mannishness From mannish + -ness.
Meanings
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(uncountable) The condition of being mannish; manliness or masculinity.
1903, Mabel Atkinson, Review of Lily Braun, Die Frauenfrage: ihre geschichtliche Entwicklung und wirtschaftliche Seite in American Journal of Sociology, 1 March, 1903, p. 703, She thinks also that when once the first ardor of revolution, with its inevitable tendency to mannishness, has passed by, women who work need lose none of their proper grace and charm—a view which is certainly borne out by facts.
I hate women in stiff collars and shirts and ties and mannishness like that […]
1922, A. S. M. Hutchinson, This Freedom, Part Two, Chapter 2:There was a certain thickness to her movement and appearance, a rough mannishness, despite the large breasts which she tried to flatten beneath a harness-like bra, stolen from an older sister's dresser.
1999, Debra Spark, “Chocolate Mice”, in New England Review, volume 20, number 4, page 123:
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(Caribbean, uncountable) Impertinence; precociousness.
Chinta came straight up to him and said, with the mannishness she put on when Mrs Tulsi was away, ‘Brother-in-law, I want you to know that until you came to this house there were no crab-catchers here.’
1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 5: