manta
1 Americannoun
PLURAL
mantas-
(in Spain and Spanish America) a cloak or wrap.
-
a type of blanket or cloth used on a horse or mule.
-
Military. a movable shelter formerly used to protect besiegers, as when attacking a fortress.
-
Also called manta ray. Also called devilfish. Also called devil ray. Ichthyology. any of several tropical rays of the small family Mobulidae, especially of the genus Manta, measuring from 2 to 24 feet (0.6 to 7.3 meters) across, including the pectoral fins.
noun
noun
-
Also called: manta ray. devilfish. devil ray. any large ray (fish) of the family Mobulidae, having very wide winglike pectoral fins and feeding on plankton
-
a rough cotton cloth made in Spain and Spanish America
-
a piece of this used as a blanket or shawl
-
another word for mantelet
Etymology
Origin of manta
First recorded in 1690–1700; from Spanish, from Provençal: literally, “blanket”; mantle
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.
Friday's decisions move whale sharks, manta rays and devil rays onto Appendix I after countries on Thursday did the same for the critically endangered oceanic whitetip shark.
From Barron's
Structures honed by eons of evolution can provide inspiration to engineers — the spectacularly uncloggable filters of the manta ray, for example, may provide a way to sift out plastic pollution before it reaches waterways.
From New York Times
Another underwater drone, the Raydrive - based on the anatomy of a manta ray - was also being tested, to spy on enemy ships while "almost silent", the Times reported.
From BBC
A new study suggests the shark lived 93 million years ago and filled a filter-feeding niche that is held by manta rays today.
From Scientific American
For this image, I was positioned flat on the sand, watching one manta looping around and around whilst feeding on a cloud of planktonic creatures which had gathered.
From BBC
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.
