1.
[syn: work force, workforce, manpower, hands, men]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Henchman \Hench"man\ (h[e^]nch"man), n.; pl. -men (-men). [OE.
hencheman, henxman; prob. fr. OE. & AS. hengest horse + E.
man, and meaning, a groom. AS. hengest is akin to D. & G.
hengst stallion, OHG. hengist horse, gelding.]
An attendant; a servant; a follower. Now chiefly used as a
political cant term.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Gownsman \Gowns"man\, Gownman \Gown"man\, n.; pl. -men (-men).
One whose professional habit is a gown, as a divine or
lawyer, and particularly a member of an English university;
hence, a civilian, in distinction from a soldier.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Handcraftsman \Hand"crafts`man\ (-man), n.; pl. -men (-men).
A handicraftsman.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Handicraftsman \Hand"i*crafts`man\ (-kr[.a]fts`man), n.; pl.
-men (-men).
A man skilled or employed in handcraft. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Signalman \Sig"nal*man\, n.; pl. -men.
A man whose business is to manage or display signals;
especially, one employed in setting the signals by which
railroad trains are run or warned.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Skyman \Sky"man\, n.; pl. -men.
An aeronaut. [Slang]
Syn: airman; pilot.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. + PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Orangeman \Or"ange*man\, n.; pl. -men.
One of a secret society, organized in the north of Ireland in
1795, the professed objects of which are the defense of the
reigning sovereign of Great Britain, the support of the
Protestant religion, the maintenance of the laws of the
kingdom, etc.; -- so called in honor of William, Prince of
Orange, who became William III. of England.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Overman \O"ver*man\, n.; pl. -men.
1. One in authority over others; a chief; usually, an
overseer or boss.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. An arbiter.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
3. In the philosophy of Nietzsche, a man of superior physique
and powers capable of dominating others; one fitted to
survive in an egoistic struggle for the mastery.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Keelman \Keel"man\, n.; pl. -men.
See Keeler, 1.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plainsman \Plains"man\, n.; pl. -men.
One who lives in the plains.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plowman \Plow"man\, Ploughman \Plough"man\, n.; pl. -men.
1. One who plows, or who holds and guides a plow; hence, a
husbandman. --Chaucer. Macaulay.
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2. A rustic; a countryman; a field laborer.
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Plowman's spikenard (Bot.), a European composite weed
(Conyza squarrosa), having fragrant roots. --Dr. Prior.
[1913 Webster] Plowpoint
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Point man \Point" man`\, n.; pl. -men (-men).
1. (Mil.) the lead soldier in a foot patrol under combat
conditions.
[PJC]
2. a person who takes a conspicuous public position in
proposing a new idea or initiating a new policy, who may
become a target of criticism for those opposed. "The
Secretary of State served as point man for the
administration's new China policy."
[PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pointsman \Points"man\, n.; pl. -men (-men).
A man who has charge of railroad points or switches. [Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Light-horseman \Light"-horse`man\ (l[imac]t"h[^o]rs`man), n.;
pl. -men (l[imac]t"h[^o]rs`men).
1. A soldier who serves in the light horse. See under 5th
Light.
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2. (Zool.) A West Indian fish of the genus Ephippus,
remarkable for its high dorsal fin and brilliant colors.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Lightman \Light"man\ (l[imac]t"m[a^]n), n.; pl. -men
(l[imac]t"m[e^]n).
A man who carries or takes care of a light. --T. Brown.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Low-churchman \Low"-church`man\, n.; pl. -men.
One who holds low-church principles.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Man \Man\ (m[a^]n), n.; pl. Men (m[e^]n). [AS. mann, man,
monn, mon; akin to OS., D., & OHG. man, G. mann, Icel.
ma[eth]r, for mannr, Dan. Mand, Sw. man, Goth. manna, Skr.
manu, manus, and perh. to Skr. man to think, and E. mind.
[root]104. Cf. Minx a pert girl.]
1. A human being; -- opposed to beast.
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These men went about wide, and man found they none,
But fair country, and wild beast many [a] one. --R.
of Glouc.
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The king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to
him as it doth to me. --Shak.
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'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast! --W. C.
Fields
[PJC]
2. Especially: An adult male person; a grown-up male person,
as distinguished from a woman or a child.
[1913 Webster]
When I became a man, I put away childish things. --I
Cor. xiii. 11.
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Ceneus, a woman once, and once a man. --Dryden.
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3. The human race; mankind.
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And God said, Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness, and let them have dominion. --Gen. i.
26.
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The proper study of mankind is man. --Pope.
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4. The male portion of the human race.
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Woman has, in general, much stronger propensity than
man to the discharge of parental duties. --Cowper.
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5. One possessing in a high degree the distinctive qualities
of manhood; one having manly excellence of any kind.
--Shak.
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This was the noblest Roman of them all . . . the
elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world "This was a man!" --Shak.
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6. An adult male servant; also, a vassal; a subject.
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Like master, like man. --Old Proverb.
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The vassal, or tenant, kneeling, ungirt, uncovered,
and holding up his hands between those of his lord,
professed that he did become his man from that day
forth, of life, limb, and earthly honor.
--Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
7. A term of familiar address at one time implying on the
part of the speaker some degree of authority, impatience,
or haste; as, Come, man, we 've no time to lose! In the
latter half of the 20th century it became used in a
broader sense as simply a familiar and informal form of
address, but is not used in business or formal situations;
as, hey, man! You want to go to a movie tonight?.
[Informal]
[1913 Webster +PJC]
8. A married man; a husband; -- correlative to wife.
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I pronounce that they are man and wife. --Book of
Com. Prayer.
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every wife ought to answer for her man. --Addison.
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9. One, or any one, indefinitely; -- a modified survival of
the Saxon use of man, or mon, as an indefinite pronoun.
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A man can not make him laugh. --Shak.
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A man would expect to find some antiquities; but all
they have to show of this nature is an old rostrum
of a Roman ship. --Addison.
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10. One of the piece with which certain games, as chess or
draughts, are played.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Man is often used as a prefix in composition, or as a
separate adjective, its sense being usually
self-explaining; as, man child, man eater or maneater,
man-eating, man hater or manhater, man-hating,
manhunter, man-hunting, mankiller, man-killing, man
midwife, man pleaser, man servant, man-shaped,
manslayer, manstealer, man-stealing, manthief, man
worship, etc.
Man is also used as a suffix to denote a person of the
male sex having a business which pertains to the thing
spoken of in the qualifying part of the compound;
ashman, butterman, laundryman, lumberman, milkman,
fireman, repairman, showman, waterman, woodman. Where
the combination is not familiar, or where some specific
meaning of the compound is to be avoided, man is used
as a separate substantive in the foregoing sense; as,
apple man, cloth man, coal man, hardware man, wood man
(as distinguished from woodman).
[1913 Webster]
Man ape (Zool.), a anthropoid ape, as the gorilla.
Man at arms, a designation of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries for a soldier fully armed.
Man engine, a mechanical lift for raising or lowering
people through considerable distances; specifically
(Mining), a contrivance by which miners ascend or descend
in a shaft. It consists of a series of landings in the
shaft and an equal number of shelves on a vertical rod
which has an up and down motion equal to the distance
between the successive landings. A man steps from a
landing to a shelf and is lifted or lowered to the next
landing, upon which he them steps, and so on, traveling by
successive stages.
Man Friday, a person wholly subservient to the will of
another, like Robinson Crusoe's servant Friday.
Man of straw, a puppet; one who is controlled by others;
also, one who is not responsible pecuniarily.
Man-of-the earth (Bot.), a twining plant (Ipomoea
pandurata) with leaves and flowers much like those of the
morning-glory, but having an immense tuberous farinaceous
root.
Man of sin (Script.), one who is the embodiment of evil,
whose coming is represented (--2 Thess. ii. 3) as
preceding the second coming of Christ. [A Hebraistic
expression]
Man of war.
(a) A warrior; a soldier. --Shak.
(b) (Naut.) See in the Vocabulary.
(c) See Portuguese man-of-war under man-of-war and
also see Physalia.
Man-stopping bullet (Mil.), a bullet which will produce a
sufficient shock to stop a soldier advancing in a charge;
specif., a small-caliber bullet so modified as to expand
when striking the human body, producing a severe wound
which is also difficult to treat medically. Types of
bullets called hollow-nosed bullets, soft-nosed
bullets and hollow-point bullets are classed as
man-stopping. The dumdum bullet or dumdum is another
well-known variety. Such bullets were originally designed
for wars with savage tribes.
great man, a man[2] who has become prominent due to
substantial and widely admired contributions to social or
intellectual endeavors; as, Einstein was one of the great
men of the twentieth century.
To be one's own man, to have command of one's self; not to
be subject to another.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Men \Men\ (m[e^]n), n.,
pl. of Man.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Men \Men\, pron. [OE. me, men. "Not the plural of man, but a
weakened form of the word man itself." Skeat.]
A man; one; -- used with a verb in the singular, and
corresponding to the present indefinite one or they. [Obs.]
--Piers Plowman.
[1913 Webster]
Men moot give silver to the poure friars. --Chaucer.
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A privy thief, men clepeth death. --Chaucer.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Roberdsman \Rob"erds*man\, Robertsman \Rob"erts*man\, n.; pl.
-men. (Old Statutes of Eng.)
A bold, stout robber, or night thief; -- said to be so called
from Robin Hood.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Ribbonman \Rib"bon*man\, n.; pl. -men.
A member of the Ribbon Society. See Ribbon Society, under
Ribbon.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Trackman \Track"man\, n.; pl. -men. (Railroads)
One employed on work on the track; specif., a trackwalker.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tripeman \Tripe"man\, n.; pl. -men.
A man who prepares or sells tripe.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Herdman \Herd"man\, Herdsman \Herds"man\, n.; pl. -men.
The owner or keeper of a herd or of herds; one employed in
tending a herd of cattle.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Beadsman \Beads"man\, Bedesman \Bedes"man\, n.; pl. -men.
A poor man, supported in a beadhouse, and required to pray
for the soul of its founder; an almsman.
[1913 Webster]
Whereby ye shall bind me to be your poor beadsman for
ever unto Almighty God. --Fuller.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
High-churchman \High"-church`man\, n.; pl. -men.
One who holds high-church principles.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
men
n 1: the force of workers available [syn: work force,
workforce, manpower, hands, men]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
57 Moby Thesaurus words for "men":
Everyman, John Doe, Public, body politic, citizenry, common man,
commonwealth, community, community at large, crew, employees,
estate, everybody, everyman, everyone, everywoman, fighting force,
firepower, folk, folks, force, forces, gang, general public,
gentry, hands, help, hired help, male sex, man, manhood, mankind,
menfolk, menfolks, nation, nationality, people, people in general,
personnel, persons, polity, populace, population, public, retinue,
servantry, society, staff, state, sword side, the big battalions,
the help, troops, units, work force, world, you and me