Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The spirits of the dead, regarded as minor supernatural powers in ancient Roman religion.
- n. The revered spirit of one who has died.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In Roman antiquity, the spirits of the dead considered as tutelary divinities of their families; the deified shades of the dead, according to the belief that the soul continued to exist and to have relations with earth after the body had perished. Three times a year a pit called the mundus was officially opened in the comitium of the Roman Forum, to permit the manes to come forth. The manes were also honored at certain festivals, as the Parentalia and Feralia; oblations were made to them, and the flame maintained on the altar of the household was a homage to them. [In this sense often written with a capital.]
- Hence—2. The spirit of a deceased person, or the shades of the dead, whether considered as the object of a cult or not.
- By metonymy— The lower world or infernal regions, as the abode of the manes.
- The punishments imposed in the lower world.
Wiktionary
- n. The souls or spirits of dead ancestors, conceived as deities or the subjects of reverence.
- n. Plural form of mane.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Rom. Antiq.) The benevolent spirits of the dead, especially of dead ancestors, regarded as family deities and protectors.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a Persian prophet who founded Manichaeism (216-276)
Etymologies
- From Latin manes ("spirits of the dead"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin mānēs, perhaps from mānis, good; see mā-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“With the amount of sun and surf streaming out of Australia, creating a top of the line hair product to tame their manes is a concept Evo takes seriously.”
“Common blacks have very very large, noticable 'manes' of spiky hair around their face.”
“Bedad, I don't ondercumstubble," he replied, taking off his cap and scratching his head reflectively, rather taken aback by my Latin quotation; "though if that haythen lingo manes soft sawder, by the powers I've got lashins av it!”
“I posted last night about heroes and tousled manes at Oddshots last night.”
“They're the cruddy ones no one wants, not the spectacular, awesome ones with fairy wings and gypsy stallions with big manes," she says.”
“Sled collided with sled, and dog-team fastened upon dog-team with bristling manes and screaming fangs.”
“The men greeted him with feet threateningly lifted for the kick, the dogs with bristling manes and bared fangs.”
“Ever north, through a fat and flourishing rejuvenated land, stopping at the towns of Willows, Red Bluff and Redding, crossing the counties of Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, and Shasta, went the spruce wagon drawn by the dappled chestnuts with cream-colored manes and tails.”
“There are a few actresses, like Betty White, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench, who proudly sport their white manes on screen, and even the occasional part that requires gray for the role -- remember Streep went white to play The Devil Wears Prada's Miranda?”
“Gabe ronald: If your argument is that the subject of “None of the cars is red” manes “not even one”, then the subject picks out zero cars.”
None is, none are: Grammar according to Clarkson « Motivated Grammar
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘manes’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Capitonyms, capitonyms
Words that change meaning when capitalized
worms, welsh, turkey, time, tangier, tang, slough, seat, scotch, scone, said, russian and 70 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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When In Entropic~al English Locales.....
Care about your social environment? Save these endangered words from extinction... don't delay, adopt an out~of~date adjective today!
englishable, toesmithing, zwimmer, woad, wherefore, bobance, pediluvium, ruff, anteloquy, februation, lungeous, chalm and 357 more...
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Verbophile's Words
callidity, evirate, calcitrate, periplus, versipel, dout, putanism, subvene, repristinate, impleach, ferruginate, incrassate and 153 more...
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Supernatural
bogeyman, ghost, peri, brownie, gnome, pixie, changeling, gorgon, satyr, djinn, fetch, genie and 12 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for manes.
minerva Tomorrow is the day that will, in all probability, send either one or two ghosts to attend the manes of my Clarissa.
Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson Dec 8, 2007
minerva Whole hecatombs ought to be offered up to the manes of my Clarissa Lovelace.
Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson Dec 8, 2007
pavonine Also-n.pl. The spirits of the dead, regarded as minor supernatural powers in ancient Roman religion Dec 8, 2007