man

Noun (1)

man (plural men)

1. An adult male human.
   • The show is especially popular with middle-aged men.
   • The king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to him as it doth to me.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
   1. (collective) All human males collectively: mankind.
      • THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.1776 December 19, Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
      • Unsurprisingly, if modern man is a sort of camera, modern woman is a picture.2011, Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity: Staying In, page 109
   2. An adult male who belongs to a particular group: an employee, a representative, etc.
      • When President Roosevelt goes walking in the country about Washington he is always accompanied by two Secret Service men.1909, Harper's Weekly, volume 53, page iii
      • "And they're very good people, I assure you — he's a Harvard man." It was the first time Milly had met on intimate terms a graduate of a large university.1913, Robert Herrick, One Woman's Life, page 46
   3. An adult male who has, to an eminent degree, qualities considered masculine, such as strength, integrity, and devotion to family; a mensch.
      • He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house[…]1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “In The Enemy’s Camp”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part VI (Captain Silver), page 234
      • I had the opportunity to marry one of them but wasn't mature enough to be a man and marry her and be close to the[…]children and raise them[…].2011, Timothy Shephard, Can We Help Us?: Growing Up Bi-Racial in America, →ISBN, page 181
   4. An adult or adolescent male servant. Anyone from a right-hand man (high-ranking assistant) to a low-ranking servant.
2. (dated, formal) A human, a person regardless of gender or sex, usually an adult.
   • every man for himself
   • […]a man cannot make him laugh.c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
   1. (collective, dated, formal) All humans collectively; mankind, humankind, humanity.
      • How did God create man?
      • God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.1647, Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 10
3. A member of the genus Homo, especially of the species Homo sapiens.
   • THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.1776 December 19, Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
   • The evidence suggests that close relatives of early man, in lineages that later became extinct, also were able to use tools.1990, The Almanac of Science and Technology, →ISBN, page 68
4. A male person, usually an adult; a (generally adult male) sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
   • For God is holde a ryghtwys man.c. 1500, “A Gest of Robyn Hode”, in Child Ballads
   • God's a good man.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
5. (obsolete, uncommon, uncountable) Manliness; the quality or state of being manly.
   • Methought he bare himself in such a fashion, / So full of man, and sweetness in his carriage, /[…]1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please...
6. A husband.
   • I pronounce that they are man and wife.1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC
   • In the next place, every wife ought to answer for her man.1715, Joseph Addison, The Freeholder

   Synonyms:

   baron, his lordship, hubby, husband, lord and master, old man

7. A male lover; a boyfriend.
   • Stay away from my man!
8. A male enthusiast or devotee; a male who is very fond of or devoted to a specified kind of thing.
   • Some people prefer apple pie, but me, I’m a cherry pie man.
9. A person, usually male, who has duties or skills associated with a specified thing.
   • I wanted to be a guitar man on a road tour, but instead I’m a flag man on a road crew.
10. A person, usually male, who can fulfill one's requirements with regard to a specified matter.
    • "She's the man for the job."2007, Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, →ISBN, page 553
    • Joanie volunteered, of course — if any dirty job is on offer requiring running, she's your man —2008, Soccer Dad: A Father, a Son, and a Magic Season, →ISBN, page 148
11. (historical) A vassal; a subject.
    • Like master, like man.
    • all the king's men
12. A piece or token used in board games such as backgammon.
    • The white men are always put on that side of the board which commences by row I, and the black men are placed opposite.1883, Henry Richter, Chess Simplified!, page 4
    • […] a short analysis will undoubtedly convince the solver than the queen is the most likely man to make the keymove. The greatest difficulty undoubtedly will be in finding the second move continuations.1961, Kenneth S. Howard, How to Solve Chess Problems, page 137

    Synonyms:

    meeple, piece, token

Interjection

1. Used to place emphasis upon something or someone; sometimes, but not always, when actually addressing a man.
   • Man, that was a great catch!
   • "What happened to your eye?" she says.
     "Ice pick, Bayonne, 1985," he says. "Any other questions?"
     "Sorry, man, I was just asking."2011, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, Penguin Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 160

Pronoun

man

1. (Multicultural-London-English, personal, pronoun, slang) Used to refer to oneself or one's group: I, we; construed in the third person.
   • Man's got some new creps.
   • [Sully:] If it weren’t for that snake […] Man wouldn’t even be in this mess right now.2011, Top Boy
2. (Multicultural-London-English, personal, pronoun, slang) You; construed in the third person.
   • Man thinks I was born yesterday.
   • Oh, come on. Help a brother out. People see you coppin', might inspire them. Look, I know you ain't payin' bills right now. Man must have bare peas saved up.2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda)
3. (Multicultural-London-English, indefinite, personal, pronoun, slang) Any person, one
   • Man don't care.
   • He was of all colours Þat man may se of flours Be-twene Mydsomer and May.c. 1450, Thomas Chestre, Libeaus Desconus

Verb

man (third-person singular simple present mans, present participle manning, simple past and past participle manned)

1. (transitive) To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex).
   • The ship was manned with a small crew.
   • In Britain, nearly 2,500 steam locomotives were built, 999 to new designs. Although the latter were modern, they were still labour-intensive to man and maintain, during a period of full employment when working for poor pay in the dirty railway environment was unattractive.2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 39
2. (transitive) To take up position in order to operate (something).
   • Man the machine guns!
   • “Avast!” roared Ahab, dashing him against the bulwarks—“Man the boat! Which way heading?”1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 100, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
3. (dated, possibly, reflexive) To brace (oneself), to fortify or steel (oneself) in a manly way. (Compare man up.)
   • “To stay open, the senior enlisted leader of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Forward said he needed people to cover security,” Duncan wrote. “Personnel Recovery Task Force (PRTF) Pilots, maintainers and support personnel donned their vests, helmets and M-4 rifles and manned defensive fighting positions.”2021 October 14, Oren Liebermann, “CENTCOM disputes Air Force account of attempted hijacking at Kabul airport during Afghanistan evacuation”, in CNN
   • he manned himself heroically1876, Julian Hawthorne, Saxon Studies
4. (obsolete, transitive) To wait on, attend to or escort.
5. (obsolete, transitive) To accustom (a raptor or other type of bird) to the presence of people.

Proper noun (1)

man

1. A command used to display help pages in Unix and Unix-like operating systems.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Man

Man

1. The genus Homo.
2. (poetic) Humankind in general.
   • The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.[…]The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although...1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Man

Man

1. The Isle of Man; an island and crown dependency of the United Kingdom in the Irish Sea.
   • And therefore the Bishop and clergy of Man were totally powerless to resist the alteration of doctrinal articles and rites of worship which Earls Edward and Henry, between 1521 and 1594, following the edicts of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth, introduced into the Isle of Man.1860, William Mackenzie, editor, Legislation by Three of the Thirteen Stanleys, Kings of Man. […], Douglas, Isle of Man: […] [T]he Manx Society, page 191

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Man

Man

1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Manitoba: a province of Canada.

Proper noun (5) capitalized: Man

Man (plural Mans)

1. A surname from Chinese.

Proper noun (6) capitalized: Man

Man (plural Mans)

1. A surname from Chinese.

Proper noun (7) capitalized: Man

Man

1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Manchester: a city in England (especially in football).

Proper noun (8) capitalized: Man

Man

1. A town in Logan County, West Virginia, United States.
2. A city and department in the Ivory Coast.
3. A village in Palghar district, Maharashtra, India.

   Synonyms:

   Maan

Proper noun (9) capitalized: Man

Man (plural Mans)

1. A surname

Noun (2) capitalized: MAN

MAN (plural MANs)

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Metropolitan Area Network, a large computer network usually spanning a city.

Proper noun (10) capitalized: MAN

MAN

1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Manitoba: a province of Canada.