fair sex

fair sex

noun
women collectively.

Origin:
1680–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
fair sex
 
n
the fair sex women collectively

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Fair sex is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

fair sex

Girls or women, as in Many women would object to being called the fair sex nowadays. This euphemism uses fair in the sense of "physically beautiful" and is probably dying out. [Mid-1600s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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