mane
Americannoun
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the long hair growing on the back of or around the neck and neighboring parts of some animals, as the horse or lion.
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Informal. (on a human being) a head of distinctively long and thick or rough hair.
noun
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the long coarse hair that grows from the crest of the neck in such mammals as the lion and horse
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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
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"A Contest of Riddles"
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When I Was the Greatest
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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.
Goalkeeper Jose Sa and forward Hwang Hee-chan are expected to leave along with midfielder Ladislav Krejci but Mateus Mane is due to stay at Molineux after a breakthrough season.
From BBC • May 29, 2026
Teenager Mateus Mane looks a player, but will he stay?
From BBC • May 25, 2026
Liverpool trailed 2-1 at the interval, but Salah scored in the second half, with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino also on the scoresheet that day in a 3-3 draw at Vicarage Road.
From BBC • May 23, 2026
An “emergency evacuation” message showed up on screens on the festival’s Mane Stage saying “the festival has been postponed until further notice. Please move quickly and calmly to the nearest exit.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2026
"By the Lion's Mane, Tarkheena, I'm nothing of the sort," said Bree indignantly.
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
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.
