as one man


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

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

manless, adjective
manlessly, adverb
manlessness, noun
manness, noun

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.

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. Unabridged
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World English Dictionary
man (mæn)
n , pl men
1.  an adult male human being, as distinguished from a woman
2.  (modifier) male; masculine: a 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; mankind: the development of man
5.  Also called: modern man
 b.  any extinct member of the species Homo sapiens, such as Cro-Magnon man
8.  manly qualities or virtues: the man in him was outraged
9.  a.  a subordinate, servant, or employee contrasted with an employer or manager
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, etc: man 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.  slang (South African) 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, separate the men from the boys to separate the experienced from the inexperienced
22.  to a man
 a.  unanimously
 b.  without exception: they were slaughtered to a man
23.  informal an exclamation or expletive, often indicating surprise or pleasure
vb , men, mans, manning, manned
24.  to provide with sufficient people for operation, defence, etc: to man the phones
25.  to take one's place at or near in readiness for action
26.  falconry to induce (a hawk or falcon) to endure the presence of and handling by man, esp strangers
[Old English mann; related to Old Frisian man, Old High German man, Dutch man, Icelandic mathr]

Man1 (mæn)
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

Man2 (mæn)
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: 75 000 (2003 est). Area: 588 sq km (227 sq miles)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Word Origin & History

O.E. man, mann "human being, person," from P.Gmc. *manwaz (cf. O.S., O.H.G. man, Ger. Mann, O.N. maðr, Goth. manna "man"), from PIE base *man- (cf. Skt. manuh, Avestan manu-, O.C.S. mozi, Rus. muzh "man, male"). 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. Plural men (Ger. Männer) shows effects of i-mutation. Sense of "adult male" is late (c.1000); O.E. 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, L. had homo "human being" and vir "adult male human being," but they merged in V.L., 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. Skt. vira-, Lith. vyras, L. vir, O.Ir. fer, Goth. wair) and *hner "man," a title more of honor than *uiHro (cf. Skt. nar-, Armenian ayr, Welsh ner, Gk. aner). 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. Men's Liberation first attested 1970.
"At the kinges court, my brother, Ech man for himself." [Chaucer, "Knight's Tale," c.1386]

early 12c., "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. Related: Manned.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

man definition

  1. n.
  2. exclam.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw-Hill Education.
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American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms
  1. Metropolitan Area Network

  2. Ringway International Airport (Manchester, England)

The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Bible Dictionary

Man definition


Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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