manna
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmænə/
rhymes: -ænə
homophone: manner
homophone: manor (non-rhotic)
Forms: form: mannas
form: archaic
form: mana
Etymology: From Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin manna, from Ancient Greek μάννα (mánna), from Hebrew מן (mān, “'manna”).
Senses: examples: text: And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 16:14-15:
text: In the juriſdiction of Huquang there are ſeveral places where they gather up great store of Manna, which the Natives take for a Frozen Dew.
ref: 1669, John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, →OCLC, page 242:
text: The leaves of the foreſt were loaded with manna, pure amber dropped from every bough, honey diſtilled from the rifted rock, and the humming bee, drunk with joy, ſtrayed from flower to flower, forgetful of his burſting cells.
ref: 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv:
topics: biblical
lifestyle
religion
glosses: Food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus.
examples: text: Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way / Of starved people.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
text: The introduction of technical progress in this model can be made in a very simple manner if we assume that it is of the ‘disembodied’ type, that is, something like manna that falls from heaven on all capital goods, old and new. [emphasis in original]
ref: 2010, Giancarlo Gandolfo, Economic Dynamics, 4th edition, Springer, page 197f:
glosses: Any boon which comes into one's hands by good luck.
examples: 1966, Bill Beatty, Tales of Old Australia, National Distributors, →ISBN, page 14, discussing old Australian foods
The icing on the cake was made from manna, which was gathered under the manna gums. Manna mixed with milk made a splendid icing.
glosses: The sugary sap of the manna gum tree which oozes out from holes drilled by insects and falls to the ground around the tree.
Derived terms: alt: from Eucalyptus viminalis, E. gunnii, E. pulverulenta
word: Australian manna
taxonomic: Fraxinus ornus
word: manna ash
word: manna croup
word: manna from heaven
word: manna grass
taxonomic: Glyceria spp.
word: mannagrass
taxonomic: Eucalyptus viminalis
alt: E. gunnii, E. pulverulenta
word: manna gum
word: mannalike
alt: Trabutina crassispinosa or Trabutina mannipara
word: manna mealybug
alt: Trabutina crassispinosa or Trabutina mannipara
word: manna scale
word: manniferous
word: mannitate
word: mannitol
word: mannose
taxonomic: Astragalus brachycalyx
word: Persian manna
alt: Trabutina mannipara
word: tamarisk manna scale