Manna

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Manna \Man"na\ (m[a^]n"n[.a]), n. [L., fr. Gr. ma`nna, Heb.
     m[=a]n; cf. Ar. mann, properly, gift (of heaven).]
     1. (Script.) The food supplied to the Israelites in their
        journey through the wilderness of Arabia; hence, divinely
        supplied food. --Ex. xvi. 15.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. (Bot.) A name given to lichens of the genus {Lecanora},
        sometimes blown into heaps in the deserts of Arabia and
        Africa, and gathered and used as food; called also {manna
        lichen}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Bot. & Med.) A sweetish exudation in the form of pale
        yellow friable flakes, coming from several trees and
        shrubs and used in medicine as a gentle laxative, as the
        secretion of {Fraxinus Ornus}, and {Fraxinus
        rotundifolia}, the manna ashes of Southern Europe.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: {Persian manna} is the secretion of the camel's thorn
           (see {Camel's thorn}, under {Camel}); {Tamarisk manna},
           that of the {Tamarisk mannifera}, a shrub of Western
           Asia; {Australian, manna}, that of certain species of
           eucalyptus; {Brian[,c]on manna}, that of the European
           larch.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Manna insect} (Zool), a scale insect ({Gossyparia
        mannipara}), which causes the exudation of manna from the
        Tamarix tree in Arabia.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  manna
       n 1: hardened sugary exudation of various trees
       2: (Old Testament) food that God gave the Israelites during the
          Exodus [syn: {miraculous food}, {manna from heaven}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  51 Moby Thesaurus words for "manna":
     TLC, ambrosia, benefaction, benefit, benevolence, blessing,
     bonne bouche, boon, bread, care, cate, choice morsel, daily bread,
     dainty, delicacy, dessert, economic support, endowment, favor,
     godsend, goody, grace, keep, kickshaw, livelihood, living,
     loaves and fishes, maintenance, manna from heaven, meat, morsel,
     mothering, nectar, nourishment, nurture, price support, provision,
     savory, subsidization, subsidy, subsistence, subvention, support,
     sustainment, sustenance, sustentation, tender loving care, tidbit,
     titbit, treat, upkeep
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Manna
     Heb. man-hu, "What is that?" the name given by the Israelites to
     the food miraculously supplied to them during their wanderings
     in the wilderness (Ex. 16:15-35). The name is commonly taken as
     derived from _man_, an expression of surprise, "What is it?" but
     more probably it is derived from _manan_, meaning "to allot,"
     and hence denoting an "allotment" or a "gift." This "gift" from
     God is described as "a small round thing," like the "hoar-frost
     on the ground," and "like coriander seed," "of the colour of
     bdellium," and in taste "like wafers made with honey." It was
     capable of being baked and boiled, ground in mills, or beaten in
     a mortar (Ex. 16:23; Num. 11:7). If any was kept over till the
     following morning, it became corrupt with worms; but as on the
     Sabbath none fell, on the preceding day a double portion was
     given, and that could be kept over to supply the wants of the
     Sabbath without becoming corrupt. Directions concerning the
     gathering of it are fully given (Ex. 16:16-18, 33; Deut. 8:3,
     16). It fell for the first time after the eighth encampment in
     the desert of Sin, and was daily furnished, except on the
     Sabbath, for all the years of the wanderings, till they encamped
     at Gilgal, after crossing the Jordan, when it suddenly ceased,
     and where they "did eat of the old corn of the land; neither had
     the children of Israel manna any more" (Josh. 5:12). They now no
     longer needed the "bread of the wilderness."
     
       This manna was evidently altogether a miraculous gift, wholly
     different from any natural product with which we are acquainted,
     and which bears this name. The manna of European commerce comes
     chiefly from Calabria and Sicily. It drops from the twigs of a
     species of ash during the months of June and July. At night it
     is fluid and resembles dew, but in the morning it begins to
     harden. The manna of the Sinaitic peninsula is an exudation from
     the "manna-tamarisk" tree (Tamarix mannifera), the el-tarfah of
     the Arabs. This tree is found at the present day in certain
     well-watered valleys in the peninsula of Sinai. The manna with
     which the people of Israel were fed for forty years differs in
     many particulars from all these natural products.
     
       Our Lord refers to the manna when he calls himself the "true
     bread from heaven" (John 6:31-35; 48-51). He is also the "hidden
     manna" (Rev. 2:17; comp. John 6:49,51).
     

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  MANNA, n.  A food miraculously given to the Israelites in the
  wilderness.  When it was no longer supplied to them they settled
  down and tilled the soil, fertilizing it, as a rule, with the bodies
  of the original occupants.