manual
[man-yoo-uh l]
- done, operated, worked, etc., by the hand or hands rather than by an electrical or electronic device: a manual gearshift.
- involving or using human effort, skill, power, energy, etc.; physical: manual labor.
- of or relating to the hand or hands: manual deformities.
- of the nature of a manual or handbook: manual instructions.
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- a small book, especially one giving information or instructions: a manual of mathematical tables.
- a nonelectric or nonelectronic typewriter; a typewriter whose keys and carriage may be powered solely by the typist's hands.
- Military. the prescribed drill in handling a rifle: the manual of arms.
- Music. a keyboard, especially one of several belonging to a pipe organ.
- Automotive. manual transmission.
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Origin of manual
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for manual
Contemporary Examples
Police said they seized several recording devices, including two hidden-camera clocks and a manual for a hidden-camera fan.
Women Describe How Top D.C. Rabbi Allegedly Spied on Them in the NudeSteven I. Weiss
October 22, 2014
One of the core principles of my system of productivity, Less Doing, is something I call “Creating the Manual of You.”
He still had the old Remington manual typewriter on which he punched out Run to Daylight!
In Life a User's Manual, Perec uses excess to slip the bounds of realism.
Now and then, a postcard would arrive with a curt message, typed on a manual typewriter.
Historical Examples
Well-educated gentlemen are not ashamed of manual labour in France.
In the Heart of VosgesMatilda Betham-Edwards
The windlasses that lift the bridge are actuated by manual power.
Thus he was more inclined for manual toil like that of Thomas.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
For instance, they rendered it impossible for him to do any manual work.
Father SergiusLeo Tolstoy
They had the manual arts and crafts of the industrial North.
With Manchesters in the EastGerald B. Hurst
manual
- of or relating to a hand or hands
- operated or done by handmanual controls
- physical, as opposed to mental or mechanicalmanual labour
- by human labour rather than automatic or computer-aided means
- of, relating to, or resembling a manual
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- a book, esp of instructions or informationa car manual
- music one of the keyboards played by hand on an organ
- military the prescribed drill with small arms
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Word Origin
C15: via Old French from Latin manuālis, from manus hand
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for manual
adj.
c.1400, from Latin manualis "of or belonging to the hand; that can be thrown by hand," from manus "hand, strength, power over; armed force; handwriting," from PIE *man- (2) "hand" (cf. Old Norse mund "hand," Old English mund "hand, protection, guardian," German Vormund "guardian," Greek mane "hand").
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n.
early 15c., "service book used by a priest," from Old French manuel "handbook" (also "plow-handle"), from Late Latin manuale "case or cover of a book, handbook," noun use of neuter of Latin manualis (see manual (adj.)). Meaning "a concise handbook" of any sort is from 1530s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper