Mudcat Café message #2148493

The Mudcat Café ^TM
Thread #4614 Message #2148493
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
13-Sep-07 - 05:09 PM
Thread Name: Origin: The Roast Beef of Old England (Fielding?)
Subject: RE: req:England's Roast Beef/Roast Beef of Old England

You're right, it has to be a verb form. We probably would recast as 'make effeminate.'

Examples from OED.
Use as a verb:
1758- "the too free admission of wealth could effeminate their manners."

Use as an adjective: A adj.
c. 1430- "The most perilous thyng A prince to have been of his condition Effeminate."