Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A rough-textured cotton fabric or blanket made and used in Spanish America and the southwest United States.
- n. Any of several rays of the family Mobulidae, inhabiting tropical and subtropical seas and having a large flattened body, winglike pectoral fins, a whiplike tail, and two hornlike fins that project forward from the head. Also called devilfish, manta ray, sea devil.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A coarse unbleached cotton fabric which forms the staple clothing of the common people of Mexico.
- n. In mining, a blanket or sack of ore; a placer in situ.
- n. The Spanish-American name of an enormous devil-fish or sea-devil, an eagleray of the family Ceratopteridæ
- n. [capitalized] [NL.] A genus of such rays. Manta birostris is a species of the warmer American waters. It is a synonym of Ceratoptera.
- n. A wrap of black cloth, cashmere, or silk extensively worn by women on the west coast of South America, especially in the forenoons and to church and funerals. It is worn less now than formerly, when it was in general use on the streets.
Wiktionary
- n. manta ray.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) The manta ray. See also cephaloptera and sea devil.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a blanket that is used as a cloak or shawl
- n. extremely large pelagic tropical ray that feeds on plankton and small fishes; usually harmless but its size make it dangerous if harpooned
Etymologies
- Spanish, blanket, manta (from its blanketlike shape), alteration of manto, cloak, perhaps from Latin mantellum, mantēlum. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“When they feast a friend they kill an ox, and set immediately a quarter of him raw upon the table (for their most elegant treat is raw beef newly killed) with pepper and salt; the gall of the ox serves them for oil and vinegar; some, to heighten the delicacy of the entertainment, add a kind of sauce, which they call manta, made of what they take out of the guts of the ox; this they set on the fire, with butter, salt, pepper, and onion.”
“There are no frickin 'manta rays with frickin' lasers on their heads in the film.”
“The only one that is being spewed like a manta is the same one that has not worked i.e. trickle down economics.”
“Dragging a fine-meshed net known as a manta trawl, he discovered minuscule pieces of plastic, some barely visible to the eye, swirling like fish food throughout the water.”
“What she saw displayed now on the Vendikar's screens reminded her mostly of a Terran fish called a manta ray.”
“It was called a manta, and was contrived somewhat on the principle of the mantelets used in the wars of the Middle Ages.”
“After their greeting she was the first to allude to the dress, regretting that it was not more of a rough disguise, and that, as she must now discard the national habit of wearing her shawl "manta" fashion over her head, she wanted a hat.”
“It was only after these fish vanished from the ecosystem that mammals and cartilaginous fish such as manta rays, basking sharks, whale sharks began to adapt to that ecological role.”
“Martin said modern, giant planktivores, such as manta rays and blue whales, are very common in today's oceans.”
“' It was only after these fish vanished from the ecosystem that mammals and cartilaginous fish such as manta rays, basking sharks and whale sharks began to adapt to that ecological role. '”
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Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘manta’.
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sharks, rays and skates
about 330 species of sharks
about 450 species of rays and
skatesangel shark, angelfish, basking shark, blue pointer blue..., bronze whaler, bull-head shark, carpet shark, devil ray, devilfish, dog shark, dogfish, elasmobranch and 119 more...
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PECH - marine species
African cuttlefish, Alaska plaice, Alaska pollock, Alaska pollack, walleye pollock, alewife, gaspereau, river herring, sawbelly, allis shad, American angler, goosefish and 994 more...
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rays & x-rays
raised rays
cow-nosed ray, x-ray, roentgenogram, radiogram, sunray, tomograph, whipparee, oxeye, thulium, raster, moonbeam, robinia and 86 more...
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___ Rae
A friend of mine is changing her surname to Rae. She has a pleasant but unremarkable first name, and no middle name. So let's give her a memorable middle name. Come on Wordies, I know you can do it.
gamma, x, cosmic, sting, billy, more, death, hoo, tanker, norma, rae, sugar and 39 more...
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animals (2 syllable)
A list of common animal names. Keep the list to 2 syllable words.No scientific names. No proper names like 'Fluffy' the elephant.Insects and other creatures (even ficticious like 'dragon') are we...
baboon, rabbit, raptor, dragon, camel, hornet, llama, cobra, cheetah, penguin, puppy, dolphin and 86 more...
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Fabrics
Woven, knit and tatted fabrics. Other kinds of cloth, such as tapa and chamois are not included.
shikii, shantung, cotton, linen, tweed, wool, velour, velvet, velveteen, gabardine, chenille, silk and 550 more...
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Common Spanish words with more than o...
gato, pájaro, cepillo, araña, volante, enchufe, primo, mono, gemelos, lámpara, plancha, golfo and 3 more...
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braggadocio
an addendum or Anhang to Prolagus's list 'The braggadocio recipe'
amoeba, angina, antenna, aria, arnica, audio, aurora, biro, bronco, bubo, cafe, calico and 88 more...
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Patchwork
Square or rectangular pieces of fabric of various uses.
swatch, handkerchief, neckerchief, bandana, fogle, napkin, scarf, kaffiyeh, serviette, washcloth, placemat, mola and 16 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for manta.
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