Feminine, a.
Etymology: [L. femininus, fr. femina woman; prob. akin to L. fetus, or to Gr. fæmme woman, maid: cf. F. féminin. See Fetus.]
1. Of or pertaining to a woman, or to women; characteristic of a woman; womanish; womanly. Her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace. Macaulay.
2. Having the qualities of a woman; becoming or appropriate to the female sex; as, in a good sense, modest, graceful, affectionate, confiding; or, in a bad sense, weak, nerveless, timid, pleasure- loving, effeminate. Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine. Milton. Ninus being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogether feminine, and subject to ease and delicacy. Sir W. Raleigh.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Feminine, n.
1. A woman. [Obs. or Colloq.] They guide the feminines toward the palace. Hakluyt.
2. (Gram.)
Any one of those words which are the appellations of females, or which have the terminations usually found in such words; as, actress, songstress, abbess, executrix. There are but few true feminines in English. Latham.
Shades of meaning
We apply female to the sex, feminine to the qualities, especially the finer physical or mental qualities that distinguish the female sex in the human family, or to the objects appropriate for or especially employed by them. A female voice is the voice of a woman; a feminine voice may belong to a man. Womanish denotes the undesirable, womanly the admirable or lovely qualities of woman. Womanly tears would suggest respect and sympathy, womanish tears a touch of contempt. The word effeminate is always used reproachfully, and only of men as possessing womanly traits such as are inconsistent with true manliness.