man
man
(măn) noun
plural men (
mĕn)
1.
An adult male human being.
2.
A human being regardless of sex or age; a person.
3.
A human being or an adult male human being belonging to a specific occupation, group, nationality, or other category. Often used in combination: a milkman; a congressman; a freeman.
4.
The human race; mankind: man's quest for peace.
5.
Zoology. A member of the genus Homo, family Hominidae, order Primates, class Mammalia, characterized by erect posture and an opposable thumb, especially a member of the only extant species, Homo sapiens, distinguished by a highly developed brain, the capacity for abstract reasoning, and the ability to communicate by means of organized speech and record information in a variety of symbolic systems.
6. A male human being endowed with qualities, such as strength, considered characteristic of manhood.
7. Theology. In Christianity and Judaism, a being composed of a body and a soul or spirit.
8. Informal. a. A husband. b. A lover or sweetheart.
9. men a. Workers. b. Enlisted personnel of the armed forces: officers and men.
10. A male representative, as of a country or company: our man in Tokyo.
11. A male servant or subordinate.
12. Informal. Used as a familiar form of address for a man: See here, my good man!
13. One who swore allegiance to a lord in the Middle Ages; a vassal.
14. Games. Any of the pieces used in a board game, such as chess or checkers.
15. Nautical. A ship. Often used in combination: a merchantman; a man-of-war.
16. Often Man Slang. A person or group felt to be in a position of power or authority. Used with the: "Their writing mainly concerns the street lifethe pimp, the junky, the forces of drug addiction, exploitation at the hands of the man" (Black World).
verb
, transitive
manned, manning, mans
1.
To supply with men, as for defense or service: man a ship.
2.
To take stations at, as to defend or operate: manned the guns.
3.
To fortify or brace: manned himself for the battle ahead.
interjection
Used as an expletive to indicate intense feeling: Man! That was close.
idiom.
as one man
1.
In complete agreement; unanimously.
2.
With no exception: They objected as one man.
one's own man
Independent in judgment and action.
to a man
Without exception: All were lost, to a man.
[Middle English, from Old English mann.]
Usage Note:
Traditionally, man and words derived from it have been used generically to designate any or all of the human race irrespective of sex. In Old English this was the principal sense of man, which meant "a human being" regardless of sex; the words wer and wyf (or wpman and wifman) were used to refer to "a male human being" and "a female human being" respectively. But in Middle English man displaced wer as the term for "a male human being," while wyfman (which evolved into present-day woman) was retained for "a female human being." The result of these changes was an assymetrical arrangement that many criticize as sexist. Many writers have revised some of their practices accordingly. But the precise implications of the usage vary according to the context and the particular use of man or its derivatives. Man sometimes appears to have the sense of "person" or "people" when it is used as a count noun, as in A man is known by the company he keeps and Men have long yearned to unlock the secrets of the atom, and in phrases like the common man and the man in the street. Here the generic interpretation arises indirectly: if a man is known by the company he keeps, then so, by implication, is a woman. For this reason the generic interpretation of these uses of man is not possible where the applicability of the predicate varies according to the sex of the individual. Thus it would be inappropriate to say that Men are the only animals that can conceive at any time, since the sentence literally asserts that the ability to conceive applies to male human beings. This usage presumes that males can be taken as representatives of the species. In almost all cases, however, the words person and people can be substituted for man and men, often with a gain in clarity. By contrast, man functions more as a generic when it is used without an article in the singular to refer to the human race, as in sentences like The capacity for language is unique to man or in phrases like man's inhumanity to man. But this use of man is also ambiguous, since it can refer exclusively to male members of the human race. In most contexts words such as humanity or humankind will convey the generic sense of this use of man. On the whole, the Usage Panel accepts the generic use of man, the women members significantly less than the men. The sentence If early man suffered from a lack of information, modern man is tyrannized by an excess of it was acceptable to 81 percent of the Panel (including 58 percent of the women and 92 percent of the men). The Panel also accepted compound words derived from generic man. The sentence The Great Wall is the only man-made structure visible from space was acceptable to 86 percent (including 76 percent of the women and 91 percent of the men). The sentence "The history of language is the history of mankind" (James Bradstreet Greenough and George Lyman Kittredge) was acceptable to 76 percent (including 63 percent of the women and 82 percent of the men). Such compounds were acceptable even when the context required that they be applied chiefly to women. Thus, 66 percent of the Panel (including 57 percent of the women and 71 percent of the men) accepts the word manpower in the sentence Countries that do not permit women to participate in the work force are at a disadvantage in competing with those that do avail themselves of that extra source of manpower. A related set of problems is raised by the use of man in forming the names of occupational and social roles such as businessman, chairman, spokesman, layman, and freshman, as well as in analogous formations such as unsportsmanlike and showmanship. Some condemn this use categorically; however, these words remained acceptable to a majority of the Usage Panel when they were used to refer to a role or class in the abstract but were rejected when they were used to refer to a woman. Thus the general use of chairman was acceptable to 67 percent of the Panel (including 52 percent of the women and 76 percent of the men) in the sentence The chairman will be appointed by the Faculty Senate. But only 48 percent (including 43 percent of the women and 50 percent of the men) accepted the use of the word in Emily Owen, chairman of the Mayor's Task Force, issued a statement assuring residents that their views would be solicited, where it is applied to a woman. Several strategies have been suggested for replacing the categorical use of compounds formed with man. Parallel terms like businesswoman, spokeswoman, and chairwoman are increasingly used to refer to women. Also in use are common-gender terms coined with person, such as businessperson, spokesperson, and chairperson. For occupational titles ending in man, new standards of official usage have been established by the U.S. Department of Labor and other government agencies. In official contexts terms such as firefighter and police officer are now generally used in place of fireman and policeman. A majority of the Panelists rejected the verb man when it was used to refer to an activity performed by women. The sentence Members of the League of Women Voters will be manning the registration desk was unacceptable to 56 percent of the Panel (including 61 percent of the women and 54 percent of the men).