On Women in Johnson's Dictionary | For those interested in Gender

Hi all—

For those interested in gender, Johnson's complex entry on "woman" from his Dictionary (1755)

Woman [wifman, wimman, Saxon]

1. The female of the human race.

--The man who hath a tongue is no man, 
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.  Shakespeare

--Thou dotard, thou art woman-tir'd unroosted
   by thy dame Parlet Here. Shakespeare's Winter's Tale.

--Women are soft, mild, pitiful and flexible, 
Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.   —Shakespeare

--And Abimelach took men-servants and women-servants.   --Genesis

--O woman, lovely woman, nature form'd thee
To temper man; we had been brutes without thee.   --Otway

--Woman are made as they themselves would choose, 
too proud to ask, too humble to refuse.   --Garth

--Women in their nature are much more gay 
and joyous than men; whether it be that their 
blood is more refined, their fibres more 
delicate, and their animal spirits more light; 
vivacity is the gift of women, gravity that of men.   --Addison.