Word: maniple Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Late Middle English maniple, manyple (“scarf worn as vestment, maniple”), borrowed from Middle French, Old French maniple, manipule (“handful; troop of soldiers; scarf worn as vestment”) (modern French manipule), from Latin manipulus (“bundle, handful; troop of soldiers”), from manus (“hand”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon, signal”)) + the weakened root of pleō (“to fill; to fulfil”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)). The English word is cognate with Italian manipulo (“scarf worn as vestment”) (obsolete), manipolo (“handful; troop of soldiers; scarf worn as vestment”). Sense 2 (“part of a priest’s vestments”) is probably from the fact that the item was originally carried in the hand. It may originate from a handkerchief or napkin worn by Roman consuls as an indication of rank. Pronunciation: /ˈmænɪp(ə)l/, /ˈmænəpəl/ 1. A division of the Roman army numbering 120 (or sometimes 60) soldiers exclusive of officers; (generally, obsolete) any small body of soldiers. Labels: Ancient-Rome Example: [T]hey divided the Haſtati, Principes, and Triaris, each of them into 10 companies, making of thoſe three ſorts of ſouldiers 30 ſmall regiments, which they called Manipuli: And again, they ſubdivided each maniple into two equall parts, and called them Ordines, which was the leaſt company in a legion, and according to the rate ſet down by Polybius, contained 60 ſouldiers. […] By this therefore it may appear that a legion conſiſted of four ſorts of ſouldiers, which were reduced into ten cohorts, and every cohort contained three maniples, and every maniple two orders, and every order had his Centurion marching in the head of the troop, and every Centurion had his Optionem, or Lieutenant, that ſtood in the tail of the troop. Example: And preſently changing the Order of his March, made his Flank which was next the Enemy thrice as ſtrong as it was before; plac'd ſeveral Spearmen and Slingers between the Battalions or Maniples of foot; planted all the Cavalry in the Wings; And after a brief Excitation to his Soldiers, caus'd the Army in this Figure to file off to the Left, and towards the Plain. 2. In Western Christianity, an ornamental band or scarf worn upon the left arm as a part of the vestments of a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, and sometimes the Church of England. Labels: historical Example: [T]hey, as men thinking baſelie of ſuch ſimple dealing, adde a great deale more to making of their prieſts: they muſt haue oyle, candels, baſens, tovvels, amices, albes, ſtoals, gyrdles, maniples, miters, bookes, croſſes, linnen, bandes, chalices, patens, ſinging cakes, vvine and vvater, flovver, and ſuch other thinges, trifled and toyed with all, […] Example: [T]hen ſhall the Juſtice of the Biſhop (his Officer he means) cauſe a Proceſſion to be made with a Prieſt, habited in an Albe Maniple, and Stole, and Clerks in their Surplices, with Holy-water and a Croſs, the Candleſticks and Incense-pot, with Fire and Incenſe going before, and the Friends of the dead having taken his Body up, ſhall put it on a Biere, and carry it to the Church, where Maſs being ſaid for him, and other Rites performed, they ſhall Inter him as becomes a Chriſtian. 3. A hand; a fist. Labels: informal, obsolete Example: His poem, however, is meetly enough entituled—Christ Crucified! But the Rev. William Ellis Wall is worse than [Pontius] Pilate. That "wretch," as this miserable calls the Roman governor, was careful to wash his hands of all guilt in the transaction; but the Rev. William Ellis Wall holds forth triumphantly his two unhallowed and incarnadine maniples of reeking digits, boasting of the infamous achievement in a most egregious preface.