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men

[men]
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noun
  1. plural of man1.
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man1

[man]
noun, plural men.
  1. an adult male person, as distinguished from a boy or a woman.
  2. a member of the species Homo sapiens or all the members of this species collectively, without regard to sex: prehistoric man.
  3. the human individual as representing the species, without reference to sex; the human race; humankind: Man hopes for peace, but prepares for war.
  4. a human being; person: to give a man a chance; When the audience smelled the smoke, it was every man for himself.
  5. a husband.
  6. a male lover or sweetheart.
  7. a male follower or subordinate: the king's men. He's the boss's number one man.
  8. a male employee or representative, especially of a company or agency: a Secret Service man; a man from the phone company.
  9. a male having qualities considered typical of men or appropriately masculine: Be a man. The army will make a man of you.
  10. a male servant.
  11. a valet.
  12. enlisted man.
  13. an enthusiast or devotee: I like jazz, but I'm essentially a classics man.
  14. Slang. male friend; ally: You're my main man.
  15. a term of familiar address to a man; fellow: Now, now, my good man, please calm down.
  16. Slang. a term of familiar address to a man or a woman: Hey, man, take it easy.
  17. one of the pieces used in playing certain games, as chess or checkers.
  18. History/Historical. a liegeman; vassal.
  19. Obsolete. manly character or courage.
  20. the man, Slang.
    1. a person or group asserting authority or power over another, especially in a manner experienced as being oppressive, demeaning, or threatening, as an employer, the police, or a dominating racial group.
    2. a person or group upon whom one is dependent, as the drug supplier for an addict.
    Also the Man.
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verb (used with object), manned, man·ning.
  1. to furnish with men, as for service or defense.
  2. to take one's place for service, as at a gun or post: to man the ramparts.
  3. to strengthen, fortify, or brace; steel: to man oneself for the dangers ahead.
  4. Falconry. to accustom (a hawk) to the presence of men.
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interjection
  1. Slang. an expression of surprise, enthusiasm, dismay, or other strong feeling: Man, what a ball game!
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Verb Phrases
  1. man up, Informal. to act in a typically masculine way, as in taking responsibility or making tough decisions: He should man up and meet the challenge.
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Idioms
  1. as one man, in complete agreement or accord; unanimously: They arose as one man to protest the verdict.
  2. be one's own man,
    1. to be free from restrictions, control, or dictatorial influence; be independent: Now that he has a business he is his own man.
    2. to be in complete command of one's faculties: After a refreshing nap he was again his own man.
  3. man and boy, ever since childhood: He's been working that farm, man and boy, for more than 50 years.
  4. man's man, a man who exemplifies masculine qualities.
  5. to a man, with no exception; everyone; all: To a man, the members of the team did their best.
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Origin of man1

before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English man(n); cognate with German Mann, Dutch man, Old Norse mathr, Gothic manna; (v.) Middle English mannen, Old English mannian to garrison
Related formsman·less, adjectiveman·less·ly, adverbman·less·ness, nounman·ness, noun

Synonyms

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com
Man, male, gentleman are nouns referring to adult human beings who are biologically male; that is, physiologically equipped to initiate conception but not to bear children. Man is the most general and most commonly used of the three; it can be neutral, lacking either favorable or unfavorable implication: a wealthy man; a man of strong character, of unbridled appetites. It can also signify possession of the most typical or desirable masculine qualities: to take one's punishment like a man. Male emphasizes the physical or sexual characteristics of a man; it may also refer to an animal or plant: a male in his prime; two males and three females in the pack; a male of the genus Ilex. In scientific and statistical use, male is the neutral contrastive term to female : 104 females to every 100 males; Among birds, the male is often more colorful than the female. Gentleman, once used only of men of high social rank, now also specifies a man of courtesy and consideration: a real gentleman; to behave like a gentleman. Gentleman is also used as a polite term of reference ( This gentleman is waiting for a table ) or, only in the plural, of address ( Are we ready to begin, gentlemen? ). See also manly, male.

Usage note

The use of man1 to mean “human being,” both alone and in compounds such as mankind, has met with objection in recent years, and the use is declining. The objection is based on the idea that man is most commonly used as an exclusive, sex-marked noun meaning “male human being.” Critics of the use of man as a generic maintain that it is sometimes ambiguous when the wider sense is intended ( Man has built magnificent civilizations in the desert ), but more often flatly discriminatory in that it slights or ignores the membership of women in the human race: The man in the street wants peace, not war.
Although some editors and writers reject or disregard these objections to man as a generic, many now choose instead to use such terms as human being ( s ), human race, humankind, people, or, when called for by style or context, women and men or men and women. See also -man, -person, -woman.

men-

  1. variant of meno- before a vowel: menarche.
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men's

or mens

[menz]
noun, plural men's.
  1. a range of sizes in even and odd numbers for garments made for men.
  2. a garment in this size range.
  3. the department or section of a store where these garments are sold.
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Origin of men's

men + 's1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

fatherbrothersonguyfellowhusbandhesirbeaugentlemangrandfatherpapaswainspouseboyfriendMr.unclenephew

Examples from the Web for men

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Men who take from the poor daily interest for a drachma, and spend it in debauchery.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • "Men say it is not so grand as the statue of Zeus, that we have at Olympia," replied the boy.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • Not only millionaires; but also painters and novelists and men and women of varied distinction.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Some of the people demanded what he had to say of the gods, since he had spoken so ably of men.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • We are like men in a subterranean cave, so chained that they can look only forward to the entrance.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

British Dictionary definitions for men

men

noun
  1. the plural of man
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man

noun plural men (mɛn)
  1. an adult male human being, as distinguished from a woman
  2. (modifier) male; masculinea man child
  3. archaic a human being regardless of sex or age, considered as a representative of mankind; a person
  4. (sometimes capital) human beings collectively; mankindthe development of man
  5. Also called: modern man
    1. a member of any of the living races of Homo sapiens, characterized by erect bipedal posture, a highly developed brain, and powers of articulate speech, abstract reasoning, and imagination
    2. any extinct member of the species Homo sapiens, such as Cro-Magnon man
  6. a member of any of the extinct species of the genus Homo, such as Java man, Heidelberg man, and Solo man
  7. an adult male human being with qualities associated with the male, such as courage or virilitybe a man
  8. manly qualities or virtuesthe man in him was outraged
    1. a subordinate, servant, or employee contrasted with an employer or manager
    2. (in combination)the number of man-days required to complete a job
  10. (usually plural) a member of the armed forces who does not hold commissioned, warrant, or noncommissioned rank (as in the phrase officers and men)
  11. a member of a group, team, etc
  12. a husband, boyfriend, etcman and wife
  13. an expression used parenthetically to indicate an informal relationship between speaker and hearer
  14. a movable piece in various games, such as draughts
  15. Southern African slang any person: used as a term of address
  16. a vassal of a feudal lord
  17. as one man with unanimous action or response
  18. be one's own man to be independent or free
  19. he's your man he's the person needed (for a particular task, role, job, etc)
  20. man and boy from childhood
  21. sort out the men from the boys or separate the men from the boys to separate the experienced from the inexperienced
  22. to a man
    1. unanimously
    2. without exceptionthey were slaughtered to a man
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interjection
  1. informal an exclamation or expletive, often indicating surprise or pleasure
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verb mans, manning or manned (tr)
  1. to provide with sufficient people for operation, defence, etcto man the phones
  2. to take one's place at or near in readiness for action
  3. falconry to induce (a hawk or falcon) to endure the presence of and handling by man, esp strangers
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Derived Formsmanless, adjective

Word Origin

Old English mann; related to Old Frisian man, Old High German man, Dutch man, Icelandic mathr

usage

The use of man to mean human beings in general is often considered sexist. Gender-neutral alternatives include human beings, people and humankind . The verb to man can also often be replaced by to staff, to operate and related words

Man1

noun the Man (sometimes not capital) US
  1. Black slang a White man or White men collectively, esp when in authority, in the police, or held in contempt
  2. slang a drug peddler
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Man2

noun
  1. Isle of Man an island in the British Isles, in the Irish Sea between Cumbria and Northern Ireland: a UK Crown Dependency (but not part of the United Kingdom), with its own ancient parliament, the Court of Tynwald; a dependency of Norway until 1266, when for a time it came under Scottish rule; its own language, Manx, became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived to some extent. Capital: Douglas. Pop: 86 159 (2013 est). Area: 588 sq km (227 sq miles)
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for men

n.

plural of man (n.). To separate the men from the boys in a figurative sense is from 1943; earliest uses tend to credit it to U.S. aviators in World War II.

One of the most expressive G.I. terms to come out of the late strife was "that's where they separate the men from the boys" -- so stated by American aviators leaning from their cockpits to observe a beach-landing under fire on some Pacific island far below. ["Arts Magazine," 1947]
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man

n.

Old English man, mann "human being, person (male or female); brave man, hero; servant, vassal," from Proto-Germanic *manwaz (cf. Old Saxon, Swedish, Dutch, Old High German man, German Mann, Old Norse maðr, Danish mand, Gothic manna "man"), from PIE root *man- (1) "man" (cf. Sanskrit manuh, Avestan manu-, Old Church Slavonic mozi, Russian muzh "man, male").

Plural men (German Männer) shows effects of i-mutation. Sometimes connected to root *men- "to think" (see mind), which would make the ground sense of man "one who has intelligence," but not all linguists accept this. Liberman, for instance, writes, "Most probably man 'human being' is a secularized divine name" from Mannus [cf. Tacitus, "Germania," chap. 2], "believed to be the progenitor of the human race."

So I am as he that seythe, `Come hyddr John, my man.' [1473]

Sense of "adult male" is late (c.1000); Old English used wer and wif to distinguish the sexes, but wer began to disappear late 13c. and was replaced by man. Universal sense of the word remains in mankind and manslaughter. Similarly, Latin had homo "human being" and vir "adult male human being," but they merged in Vulgar Latin, with homo extended to both senses. A like evolution took place in Slavic languages, and in some of them the word has narrowed to mean "husband." PIE had two stems: *uiHro "freeman" (cf. Sanskrit vira-, Lithuanian vyras, Latin vir, Old Irish fer, Gothic wair) and *hner "man," a title more of honor than *uiHro (cf. Sanskrit nar-, Armenian ayr, Welsh ner, Greek aner).

MAN TRAP. A woman's commodity. ["Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence," London, 1811]

Man also was in Old English as an indefinite pronoun, "one, people, they." The chess pieces so called from c.1400. As an interjection of surprise or emphasis, first recorded c.1400, but especially popular from early 20c. Man-about-town is from 1734; the Man "the boss" is from 1918. To be man or mouse "be brave or be timid" is from 1540s. Men's Liberation first attested 1970.

At the kinges court, my brother, Ech man for himself. [Chaucer, "Knight's Tale," c.1386]
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man

v.

Old English mannian "to furnish (a fort, ship, etc.) with a company of men," from man (n.). Meaning "to take up a designated position on a ship" is first recorded 1690s. Meaning "behave like a man, act with courage" is from c.1400. To man (something) out is from 1660s. Related: Manned; manning.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
men in Medicine

men-

pref.
  1. Variant ofmeno-
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Idioms and Phrases with men

men

see all things to all people (men); separate the men from the boys. Also see under man.

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man

In addition to the idioms beginning with man

  • man about town
  • man in the street
  • man of few words
  • man of his word
  • man of the moment
  • man of the world
  • many a
  • many hands make light work
  • many happy returns
  • many is the

also see:

  • as one (man)
  • company man
  • dead soldier (man)
  • dirty joke (old man)
  • every man for himself
  • every man has his price
  • girl (man) Friday
  • hatchet man
  • hired hand (man)
  • ladies' man
  • low man on the totem pole
  • marked man
  • new person (man)
  • no man is an island
  • odd man out
  • (man) of few words
  • one man's meat is another man's poison
  • own man
  • right-hand man
  • see a man about a dog
  • to a man

Also see undermen.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.