manure
verbnounattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//məˈnjʊə//
- United Kingdom//məˈnjɔː//
- United States//məˈnʊɹ//
- Ireland//məˈnj(ʊ)ɚ//
To apply manure (as fertilizer or soil improver).
verb
- 1
archaicTo cultivate by manual labor; to till; hence, to develop by culture.
A woman that wandring in our coaſtes hath bought / A plot for price: where ſhe a citie ſet: / To whom we gaue the ſtrond for to manure.
Manure thyself then; to thyself be approved; / And with vain, outward things be no more moved.
- 2
To apply manure (as fertilizer or soil improver).
The farmer manured his fallow field.
My Lord of Hereford here whom you call King, / Is a foule traitour to proud Herefords King, / And if you crowne him let me propheſie, / The bloud of Engliſh ſhall manure the ground, / And future ages groane for this foule act, [...]
Etymology
From Middle English maynouren, manuren (“to supervise, toil”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman meinourer and Old French manovrer (whence also English maneuver, or in French manœuvrer) from Vulgar Latin *manuoperare (“work by hand”), from Latin manū (“by hand”) + operārī (“to work”). Displaced native (in the plural) Old English mes.
noun
- 1
Animal excrement, especially that of common domestic farm animals and when used as fertilizer. Generally speaking, from cows, horses, sheep, pigs and chickens.
1985, Biff Tannen (portrayed by Thomas F. Wilson), Back to the Future. I hate manure!
1988, Dave Mustaine, "Hook in Mouth", Megadeth, So Far, So Good... So What!. M, they will cover your grave with manure
[T]he very wet winter will have washed much of the goodness out of the soil. Homemade compost and the load of manure we get from a friendly farmer may not be enough to compensate for what has leached from the ground.
- 2
Any fertilizing substance, whether of animal origin or not; fertiliser.
vegetable manure [= green manure]
livestock manures
Malt dust consists chiefly of the infant radicle separated from the grain. I have never made any experiment upon this manure; but there is great reason to suppose it must contain saccharine matter; and this will account for its powerful effects.
- 3
Rubbish; nonsense; bullshit.
“You know the police think I killed Marge, don't you?” “What a load of manure! I couldn't believe it when I read the paper.”
Forms
- plural
- manures
- past tense
- manured
- past participle
- manured
- present participle
- manuring
- third person singular
- manures
manure · To apply manure (as fertilizer or soil improver).
manuscript · Handwritten, or by extension manually typewritten, as opposed…many · before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.Many · A surname.