manure
Americannoun
-
excrement, especially of animals, or other refuse used as fertilizer.
-
any natural or artificial substance for fertilizing the soil.
verb (used with object)
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manures,
present (3rd person singular)
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manured,
past participle, past
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manuring
present participle
noun
-
animal excreta, usually with straw, used to fertilize land
-
any material, esp chemical fertilizer, used to fertilize land
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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manuresimple
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manuressimple
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have manuredperfect
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has manuredperfect
-
am manuringprogressive
-
are manuringprogressive
-
is manuringprogressive
-
have been manuringperfect progressive
-
has been manuringperfect progressive
Past
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manuredsimple
-
had manuredperfect
-
was manuringprogressive
-
were manuringprogressive
-
had been manuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of manure
1350–1400; Middle English manouren to till, cultivate < Middle French manouvrer to do manual work. See maneuver
Explanation
Gardeners use the word manure to mean a fertilizer made from animal waste. Manure is good for helping plants grow and stay healthy. When you spread manure on your vegetable garden, you're feeding the soil and plants with nutrients that encourage growth. The manure itself might be, for example, a combination of cow dung and straw, or slightly decomposed chicken waste. Sometimes the word manure is used for any kind of fertilizer, including those made entirely from plants. The earliest meaning of manure was "to cultivate land," from an Old French root word, manouvrer, "to work with the hands or cultivate."
Vocabulary lists containing manure
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Charlotte's Web
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Because of Mr. Terupt
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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.
See Examples For:
Hiking miles across remote islands avoiding sheep manure and playing into sideways rain allowed us to discover the true origins of the game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
That is because she uses green manure and legume crops.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
Muck-spreading is the process of distributing animal manure across farmland as a natural fertiliser and typically takes place twice a year, in spring and late summer.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
They argued the cows had degraded the seashore with manure pollution and soil erosion, harming the native wildlife.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
The straw seemed scratchy—not as comfortable as the cow manure, which was always delightfully soft to lie in.
From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White
Composting is great for boosting soil fertility, and many organic farmers use cover crops, or green manures, to improve their soil structure and fertility.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2022
Payments for using greener manures and other more environmentally friendly farming practices will form part of a new government scheme.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2022
The company also sells bulk-aged and screened manures, organic fertilizers and custom soil mixes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2020
Over decades, both chemical fertilizers and chicken manure and other manures have been applied to the berry crops to provide extra nitrogen to help maximize berry growth.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Later there would also be need for seeds and artificial manures, besides various tools and, finally, the machinery for the windmill.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
At Heligan, the soil was manured, aerated, and assiduously double dug for centuries; plants must have been queuing at the gates.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 2, 2019
Within two days, both the chicken culture and a similar culture from heavily manured soil produced the same antibiotic.
From Time Magazine Archive
Every boulevard shrub had been freshly manured to make the capital a little greener for its first visit, this week, from a U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
We Yahoos who pledged our manured acres and sacred honor for loans to the Yazoos are paying to the last acre, the last cow, the last pig.
From Time Magazine Archive
The fields are not manured for many successive years, and produce the finest crops; such land, however, in good situations, is no longer cheap.
From Travels in the Interior of North America, Part I, (Being Chapters I-XV of the London Edition, 1843) Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XXII by Alexander Philipp Maximilian
The difference may be due to monks manuring crops in friary gardens with their own faeces, the study suggests.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2022
Less is known about the manuring practices of lower classes in the town.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 18, 2022
When traditional methods became too unprofitable to protect their independence, farmers began manuring their fields and clearing wood lots to boost productivity.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
This evil principle, as it shows itself early, must be early lopped, or the rapid shoots it makes will, as your favorite Eve observes, Soon mock our scant manuring.
From Coelebs In Search of a Wife by Hannah More
The necessity for manuring becomes more important in the case of bulbous plants that are to be left in the same soil for several years.
From Beautiful Bulbous Plants For the Open Air by John Weathers
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