/ʌnˈmæn/
OriginFrom un- (“de-, dis-, away”) + man (“male person”). Compare Dutch ontmannen, German entmannen, both “to unman, emasculate, castrate”.
- archaic, transitiveTo divest of humanity.
“Unman not therefore thy self by a beastial transformation, nor realize old Fables.”
- archaic, transitiveTo castrate; to remove the manhood of.
“He unmanned himself under a pine-tree and bled to death on the spot.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo sap (a person) of the strength, whether physical or emotional, required to deal with a situation.
“I hope to God his theories will not unman him in action, that he will not be musing and refining when he should be leading the Jacks […]”
“He dressed moodily, and left the room to go down to breakfast. Breakfast would at least alleviate this sinking feeling which was unmanning him.”
“Meta has created a vision of life in which, without A.I. aiding his every word, an individual can be left reeling by the simplest of human interactions, unmanned by an ordinary dad joke.”
- transitiveTo deprive of men.
Formsunmans(present, singular, third-person) · unmanning(participle, present) · unmanned(participle, past) · unmanned(past)