manure

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English maynouren, manuren (“to supervise, toil”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman meinourer and Old French manovrer (whence also English maneuver), from Vulgar Latin *manuoperare (“work by hand”), from Latin manū (“by hand”) + operārī (“to work”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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manure (third-person singular simple present manures, present participle manuring, simple past and past participle manured)

  1. To cultivate by manual labor; to till; hence, to develop by culture.
  2. To apply manure (as fertilizer or soil improver).
    The farmer manured his fallow field.

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Noun

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manure (countable and uncountable, plural manures)

  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
    • 2014 April 21, Mary Keen, “You can still teach an old gardener new tricks: Even the hardiest of us gardeners occasionally learn useful new techniques [print version: Gardening is always ready to teach even the hardiest of us a few new tricks, 19 April 2014]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎[1], page G7:
      [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.
    • a. 1813, Sir Humphry Davy, "Lecture VI" in Elements of Agricultural Chemistry (1840 reprint):
      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. (euphemistic) Rubbish; nonsense; bullshit.
    • 2005, Ginny Aiken, Design on a Crime, page 217:
      “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.”

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