manliness

Etymology

From Middle English manlynes, manlynesse, equivalent to manly + -ness.

noun

1. The quality of being manly; the set of qualities, traits and abilities considered appropriate to men (as opposed to women or children); similarity to a man.
   With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes, And blessed the cot where every pleasure rose; And kissed her thoughtless babes with many a tear, And clasped them close, in sorrow doubly dear; Whilst her fond husband strove to lend relief In all the silent manliness of grief. 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, lines 379–384
   […] there was in all their minds a mute questioning of deference and chivalry, of the Bank of England and the Indian Empire, of ringed fingers and lace, though to them all there was something in this of the essence of beauty, which called out the manliness in their girlish hearts, and made them, as they sat at table beneath their mother's eyes, honour her strange severity […] 1927, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in To the Lighthouse
   Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 4, in Things Fall Apart, London: William Heinemann
2. (euphemistic, rare) Male genitals.
   Dressed only in flip-flops and a fuzzy blue bathrobe, which would be long enough on the mayor of Munchkin Land but on me is literally indecent, I attack the mower in a yanking frenzy, flailing around until the dramatic conclusion, wherein the mower refuses to start even though it is confronted by the full extent of my manliness because my too-short robe has flapped open in a cloud of flying sweat and hurled profanity. 28 May 2013, Doug Speirs, “Why you shouldn’t call me Mr. Fix It”, in Winnipeg Free Press
3. (rare) Humanity, the quality of being human.