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manure

ma·nure [ mə nr ]


noun 
Definition:
 
fertilizer made from dung: animal excrement, often mixed with straw, used as fertilizer for soil



transitive verb  (past and past participle ma·nured, present participle ma·nur·ing, 3rd person present singular ma·nures)
Definition:
 
fertilize with manure: to spread manure on land or soil to fertilize it

[14th century. < Anglo-Norman< Old French manouvrer "work with the hands" < medieval Latin manuoperare (see maneuver)]

ma·nur·er noun

Word History

When English originally took the word manure over from Anglo-Norman, its connotations of manual labor had been channeled into the management of land, and in particular the cultivation of land. It was not until the middle of the 16th century that the noun manure came to denote "fertilizer made from dung." The related maneuver, reborrowed from French in the 18th century, has remained in more refined use. See also manual.

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