Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A trough or an open box in which feed for livestock is placed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A trough or box in which is laid for horses or cattle such food as oats, bran, roots, or the like (hay being generally placed in a rack above the manger); the receptacle from which horses or cattle eat in a stable or cowhouse.
  • noun Nautical, a small space at the forward end of the deck, divided off by a combing (called the manger-board), just back of the hawse-holes, to prevent the entrance of water through the latter when the after part of the deck is flooded.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A trough or open box in which fodder is placed for horses or cattle to eat.
  • noun (Naut.) The fore part of the deck, having a bulkhead athwart ships high enough to prevent water which enters the hawse holes from running over it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A trough for animals to eat from.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a container (usually in a barn or stable) from which cattle or horses feed

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French mangeoire, from mangier, to eat, from Latin mandūcāre, from mandūcō, glutton, from mandere, to chew.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French mangoire, menjoere, from mangier ("to eat") (modern French manger).

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Examples

  • The maxim, "_Il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour manger_," was reversed.

    The Old Roman World, : the Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization. John Lord 1852

  • The jesus in the manger is a dirty old baby doll with a rubbery face and an open mouth that shouts out "FEED ME."

    December 2002 Halley Suitt 2002

  • The jesus in the manger is a dirty old baby doll with a rubbery face and an open mouth that shouts out "FEED ME."

    December 2002 Halley Suitt 2002

  • Replacing the word "manger" with "feeding trough", its equivalent, gives the account an even more heartrending effect; "manger" is poetic, while

    mangeoire - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Replacing the word "manger" with "feeding trough", its equivalent, gives the account an even more heartrending effect; "manger" is poetic, while

    French Word-A-Day: 2009

  • Passpack: online password manger with secure sharing (WebWorkerDaily)

    What to read on the GigaOM network 2009

  • The manger is a roasting pan, with a green dinosaur inside.

    The New Yorker Stories Ann Beattie 2010

  • One "star" that might have appeared first in the east and then stopped above the manger is a comet, says British researcher Colin Humphreys in a recent paper in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

    The Christmas Star--Or Was It Planets? 2008

  • In England these days, Three Wise Men become Three Wise Women, and on occasion, Baby Jesus in the manger is a girl.

    Archive 2007-12-01 GayandRight 2007

  • In England these days, Three Wise Men become Three Wise Women, and on occasion, Baby Jesus in the manger is a girl.

    Political correctness gone mad... GayandRight 2007

Comments

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  • To eat, in France.

    January 9, 2008

  • "It's along midnight. I'm not wanted for any duties, so I must find a place to kip. Eyes now accustomed to the gloom I see ahead of our trench a group of farm outbuildings. With blankets and kit I lumber across to them. Inside I find a manger. The roof is intact save a few slates that rattle when the guns go. A manger? Well, if it was good enough for him."

    - Spike Milligan, 'Mussolini: My Part In His Downfall.'

    April 19, 2009

  • Boldly enter the kitchen where the family sat at the manger. Cold Comfort Farm.

    February 21, 2013