mane
Americannoun
-
manes
plural
-
the long hair growing on the back of or around the neck and neighboring parts of some animals, as the horse or lion.
-
Informal. (on a human being) a head of distinctively long and thick or rough hair.
noun
-
the long coarse hair that grows from the crest of the neck in such mammals as the lion and horse
-
long thick human hair
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mane
before 900; Middle English; Old English manu; cognate with German Mähne, Dutch manen, Old Norse mǫn
Explanation
Use the noun mane when you talk about an animal's ruff of neck hair. A male lion's mane can be very fluffy and dramatic. A mane is a patch or growth of long hair, whether it's found on a lion or down the neck of a pony, or even on a human's head. You might stroke a horse's mane while sitting on its back, or you could compliment your friend on her beautiful mane of long blonde hair. The Old English root is manu, which comes from a Proto-Indo-European root, mon, which means "neck" or "nape of the neck."
Vocabulary lists containing mane
Horsin' Around
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"A Contest of Riddles"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
When I Was the Greatest
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His balding head’s scraggly hair—in contrast to the wigs worn by just about every Frenchman at the time, no matter the social class—is both ennobling and a bit enfeebling, like an aging but distinguished mane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The bout was hair vs. hair; whichever billionaire lost would be stripped of their mane in the ring.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
The once-famous dark mane has gone white and is neatly cropped and the bushy mustache is now just a brush of hair below his nose.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
Jolyon is played by a male model whose lustrous mane gets more of a workout than his emotional range.
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026
And then, as I am watching, she tilts to one side, lets go of the steed’s mane, and lets herself fall.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
The screens hang above the row of committee members who all look crisper and a bit more self-consciously groomed than usual with their blowouts and trimmed beards and clipped manes.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 14, 2022
Iris Law, Demi Lovato and Saweetie have lopped off their manes.
From New York Times ● Apr. 21, 2022
Many were emaciated, with unkempt manes and untrimmed hooves, she said, and they often had parasites.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2021
As he wrote in his 1963 poem “The Child,” “Who were the lion men with faces of fur / and manes / who bent by my crib to bless me?”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2020
Snowball also threw on to the fire the ribbons with which the horses’ manes and tails had usually been decorated on market days.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
