man
man [man men] noun, verb, exclamation BrE [mæn] NAmE [mæn]
noun (pl. menBrE [men] ; NAmE [men] )
MALE PERSON
1. countable an adult male human
•a good-looking young man
•the relationships between men and women
see also ↑dirty old man, ↑ladies' man, ↑men's room
HUMANS
2. uncountable humans as a group or from a particular period of history
•the damage caused by man to the environment
•early/modern/Prehistoric man
3. countable (literary or old-fashioned)a person, either male or female
•All men must die.
PARTICULAR TYPE OF MAN
4. countable (in compounds)a man who comes from the place mentioned or whose job or interest is connected with the thing mentioned
•a Frenchman
•a businessman
•a medical man
•a sportsman
5. countable a man who likes or who does the thing mentioned
•a betting/drinking/fighting man
•I think he's a beer man (= he drinks beer).
see also ↑family man
6. countable a man who works for or supports a particular organization, comes from a particular town, etc
•the BBC's man in Moscow (= the man who reports on news from Moscow)
•a loyal Republican Party man
see also ↑right-hand man, ↑yes-man
SOLDIER/WORKER
7. countable, usually plural a soldier or a male worker who obeys the instructions of a person of higher rank
•The officer refused to let his men take part in the operation.
•The conditions in which the men were working were terrible.
8. countable a man who comes to your house to do a job
•the gas man
•The man's coming to repair the TV today.
FORM OF ADDRESS
9. singular (informal, especially NAmE)used for addressing a male person
•Nice shirt, man!
•Hey man. Back off!
10. singular (old-fashioned)used for addressing a male person in an angry or impatient way
•Don't just stand there, man— get a doctor!
HUSBAND/BOYFRIEND
11. countable (sometimes disapproving)a husband or sexual partner
•What's her new man like?
•I now pronounce you man and wife (= you are now officially married).
see also ↑old man
STRONG/BRAVE PERSON
12. countable a person who is strong and brave or has other qualities that some people think are particularly male
•Come on, now— be a man.
•She's more of a man than he is.
see also ↑he-man, ↑muscleman, ↑superman
SERVANT
13. singular (old-fashioned, formal)a male servant
•My man will drive you home.
IN CHESS
14. countable one of the figures or objects that you play with in a game such as ↑chess
see also ↑chessman
more at a/the grand old man (of sth) at ↑grand adj., a man/woman after your own heart at ↑heart, a marked man at ↑marked, the next man at ↑next adj., the odd man/one out at ↑odd adj., a man/woman of (many) parts at ↑part n., the poor man's sb/sth at ↑poor, like a man/woman possessed at ↑possessed, a man/woman of substance at ↑substance, be all things to all men/people at ↑thing, a man/woman of his/her word at ↑word n., a man/woman of the world at ↑world
Word Origin:
Old English man(n), (plural) menn (noun), mannian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch man, German Mann, and Sanskrit manu ‘mankind’.
Thesaurus:
man noun
1. C
•Over 150 men responded to the survey.
informal guy • |formal gentleman • • male • |BrE, informal bloke • |especially AmE, slang dude •
Opp: woman
a/an young/old man/guy/gentleman/male/bloke/dude
a middle-aged/older man/guy/gentleman/male/bloke
a good/great/funny man/guy/bloke/dude
2. U
•They uncovered tools used by prehistoric man.
humanity • • mankind • • the human race • • humankind •
Which word? Man can be used to refer to humans when compared with other animals; to describe the development of people through history; or to talk about all the people and societies of the world
•the relationship between man and nature
• Stone Age man
• all diseases known to man
This last use is becoming old-fashioned because many people now replace man and mankind with gender neutral words like humanity and humankind.
More About:
gender
Ways of talking about men and women
When you are writing or speaking English it is important to use language that includes both men and women equally. Some people may be very offended if you do not.The human race
Man and mankind have traditionally been used to mean ‘all men and women’. Many people now prefer to use humanity, the human race, human beings or people.Jobs
The suffix -ess in names of occupations such as actress, hostess and waitress shows that the person doing the job is a woman. Many people now avoid these. Instead you can use actor or host, (although actress and hostess are still very common) or a neutral word, such as server for waiter and waitress.
Neutral words like assistant, worker, person or officer are now often used instead of -man or -woman in the names of jobs. For example, you can use police officer instead of policeman or policewoman, and spokesperson instead of spokesman or spokeswoman. Neutral words are very common in newspapers, on television and radio and in official writing, in both BrE and NAmE.
When talking about jobs that are traditionally done by the other sex, some people say: a male secretary/nurse/model (NOT man) or a woman/female doctor/barrister/driver. However this is now not usually used unless you need to emphasize which sex the person is, or it is still unusual for the job to be done by a man/woman: ▪ My daughter prefers to see a woman doctor. ◇ ▪ They have a male nanny for their kids. ◇ ▪ a female racing driver Pronouns
He used to be considered to cover both men and women: ▪ Everyone needs to feel he is loved. This is not now acceptable. Instead, after everybody, everyone, anybody, anyone, somebody, someone, etc. one of the plural pronouns they, them, and their is often used: ▪ Does everybody know what they want? ◇ ▪ Somebody’s left their coat here. ◇ ▪ I hope nobody’s forgotten to bring their passport with them.
Some people prefer to use he or she, his or her, or him or her in speech and writing: ▪ Everyone knows what’s best for him or herself. He/she or (s)he can also be used in writing: ▪ If in doubt, ask your doctor. He/she can give you more information. (You may find that some writers just use ‘she’.) These uses can seem awkward when they are used a lot. It is better to try to change the sentence, using a plural noun. Instead of saying: ▪ A baby cries when he or she is tired you can say ▪ Babies cry when they are tired.
Example Bank:
•George Clooney's first role as leading man
•He found success hard to come by after losing his right-hand man.
•He walked out of court a free man.
•He was a lucky man to have found such a partner.
•He was a self-made man who raised himself from poverty to success.
•He's a family man who rarely goes out with his friends.
•How could a human torture his fellow man?
•I was helped by two burly men with tattoos.
•I've never been a gambling man.
•In man the brain is highly developed.
•It's a powerful indictment of the horrors of war and man's inhumanity to man.
•Several people made speeches in honour of the great man.
•Vincente is a wanted man back in his own country.
•What a horrible man!
•a little old man
•a middle-aged, balding man
•the most poisonous substance known to man
•He's a good-looking young man.
•I now pronounce you man and wife.
•Many burials of Neanderthal man have been excavated in Europe.
•Many people are worried about the damage caused by man to the environment.
•Over 150 men, women and children were killed.
•They uncovered tools used by prehistoric man.
•What's her new man like?
Idioms: ↑a man ▪ ↑as one man ▪ ↑every man for himself ▪ ↑make a man of somebody ▪ man about town ▪ ↑man and boy ▪ ↑man enough ▪ ↑man in the street ▪ ↑man of God cloth ▪ ↑man of the match ▪ ↑man of the people ▪ ↑man to man ▪ ↑man's best friend ▪ ↑man's home is his castle ▪ ↑man's man ▪ ↑one man's meat is another man's poison ▪ ↑somebody's man ▪ ↑sort out the men from the boys ▪ ↑the last man ▪ ↑you can't keep a good man down ▪ ↑your own man
verb (-nn-)~ sth
to work at a place or be in charge of a place or a machine; to supply people to work somewhere
Syn: ↑crew, Syn: ↑staff
• Soldiers manned barricades around the city.
• The telephones are manned 24 hours a day by volunteers.
Verb forms: 
Word Origin:
Old English man(n), (plural) menn (noun), mannian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch man, German Mann, and Sanskrit manu ‘mankind’.
exclamation (informal, especially NAmE)
used to express surprise, anger, etc
• Man, that was great!
Word Origin:
Old English man(n), (plural) menn (noun), mannian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch man, German Mann, and Sanskrit manu ‘mankind’.
See also: ↑Englishman's home is his castle
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