woman (redirected from womanless)

be a fine figure of a man/woman (old-fashioned)

to be someone who is big and strong with an attractive body. She's a fine figure of a woman - not like all these skinny models.

See also: figure, fine, man

be your own man/woman/person

to behave in the way that you want and to not let other people influence you. Despite being the daughter of two Hollywood stars, she's very much her own woman with her own acting style.

See also: man, person

a fallen woman (old-fashioned)

a woman who is not respected any more because she had sex without being married. Many fallen women were forced to work as prostitutes, some were shut away in asylums.

See also: fallen

Hell hath no fury (like a woman scorned).

something that you say which means a woman will make someone suffer if they treat her badly. Don't be so sure she'll forgive you. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

See also: hell

a kept man/woman (humorous)

someone who does not work and who is given money and a place to live by the person who they are having a sexual relationship with. She was determined to find work and not become a kept woman like her sister.

See also: man

like a man/woman possessed

if you do something like a man possessed, you do it with a lot of energy in a way that is not controlled. He'd lost the tickets and was running round the house like a man possessed.

See also: like, man

make an honest woman of someone (humorous)

if a man makes an honest woman of someone that he is having a relationship with, he marries her. You've been living with Jean for five years, isn't it time you made an honest woman of her?

See also: honest

a man of his word

someone you can trust because you know they will do what they say they will do. Rae was a woman of her word - if she said she'd be here on Friday, she'd be here on Friday.

See also: his, man, word

a man/woman after your own heart

if someone is a man or woman after your own heart, you admire them because they do or believe the same things as you. He likes a good curry - a man after my own heart.

See also: after, heart, man

the man/woman/something of your dreams

the person or thing that you would like more than any other. I'm not sure I'll ever meet the man of my dreams, or if he even exists. At last, we'd found it, the house of our dreams.

See also: dream, man

a man/woman of means

someone who has a lot of money. I could tell from her address that she was a woman of means.

See also: man, mean

a man/woman of the world

someone who has a lot of experience of life, and is not usually shocked by the way people behave. You're a man of the world, Roger, I'd appreciate your advice on a rather delicate matter.

See also: man, world

the man/woman on the Clapham omnibus (British)

an imaginary person whose opinions and behaviour are thought to be typical of ordinary British people. The man on the Clapham omnibus probably knows nothing about Rwanda. (usually singular)

See also: man

the man/woman/person in the street

a typical, ordinary person. Do the plans for celebrating the millennium take into account the views of the man in the street?

See also: man, person, street

someone's right-hand man/woman

someone who helps you with your work and who you depend upon. How will the Director cope without his right-hand man, who resigned yesterday due to ill health?

See also: man

a scarlet woman (old-fashioned)

a woman who people think is morally bad because she has sex with a lot of men. She was labelled a scarlet woman and excluded from polite society.

the thinking man's/woman's crumpet (British, humorous)

a man or woman who is popular with the opposite sex because they are both intelligent and sexually attractive. Paxman has apparently grown weary of being labelled the thinking woman's crumpet.

See also: thinking

You can't keep a good man/woman down. (humorous)

something that you say which means that a person with a strong character will always succeed, even if they have a lot of problems. When they sacked her, she simply set up a rival company of her own. You can't keep a good woman down.

See also: can't, down, good, keep, man

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a man of his word

a man who tells the truth and keeps promises. He's always been a man of his word, that I must say.

See also: his, man, word

your own woman

your own person

the woman on the street

an ordinary woman. Her research looks at what the woman on the street thinks about the police.

the man on the street

See also: street