Female \Fe"male\, n. [OE. femel, femal, F. femelle, fr. L. femella, dim. of femina woman. See Feminine.]

1. An individual of the sex which conceives and brings forth young, or (in a wider sense) which has an ovary and produces ova.

The male and female of each living thing. --Drayton.

2. (Bot.) A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organs which are capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or fertilization; a pistillate plant.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Female \Fe"male\, a.

1. Belonging to the sex which conceives and gives birth to young, or (in a wider sense) which produces ova; not male.

As patient as the female dove When that her golden couplets are disclosed. --Shak.

2. Belonging to an individual of the female sex; characteristic of woman; feminine; as, female tenderness. ``Female usurpation.'b8 --Milton.

To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of America. --Belknap.

3. (Bot.) Having pistils and no stamens; pistillate; or, in cryptogamous plants, capable of receiving fertilization.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)