philander

From the given name Philander, used as a name for flirtatious characters in several 18th century stories, from Ancient Greek Φίλανδρος (Phílandros), name of the mythological son of the nymph Acacallis and the god Apollo. Semantically disconnected from the adjective φίλανδρος (phílandros, “loving one’s husband; excessively attracted to males, slutty, boy crazy”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlændə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlændəɹ/

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• Hyphenation: phi‧lan‧der

philander (plural philanders)

1. A lover.
   • 1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Yes, I'll baste you together, you and your Philander!

2. A South American opossum, bare-tailed woolly opossum, of species Caluromys philander (syn. Didelphis philander).
3. (obsolete) A greater bilby, an Australian marsupial of species Macrotis lagotis (syn. Perameles lagotis).

• filander

• philander on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

philander (third-person singular simple present philanders, present participle philandering, simple past and past participle philandered)

1. (intransitive) To woo women; to play the male flirt.
   • 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Daniel Deronda, volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     You can't be philandering after her again.

• womanize, womanise

• philanderer, philandering