Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun plural The spirits of the dead, regarded as minor supernatural powers in ancient Roman religion.
  • noun plural The revered spirit of one who has died.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In Roman antiquity, the spirits of the dead considered as tutelary divinities of their families; the deified shades of the dead, according to the belief that the soul continued to exist and to have relations with earth after the body had perished.
  • Hence—2. The spirit of a deceased person, or the shades of the dead, whether considered as the object of a cult or not.
  • By metonymy— The lower world or infernal regions, as the abode of the manes.
  • The punishments imposed in the lower world.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural (Rom. Antiq.) The benevolent spirits of the dead, especially of dead ancestors, regarded as family deities and protectors.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The souls or spirits of dead ancestors, conceived as deities or the subjects of reverence.
  • noun Plural form of mane.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Persian prophet who founded Manichaeism (216-276)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin mānēs, perhaps from mānis, good; see mā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin manes ("spirits of the dead").

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Examples

  • With the amount of sun and surf streaming out of Australia, creating a top of the line hair product to tame their manes is a concept Evo takes seriously.

    Cool Hunting 2009

  • Common blacks have very very large, noticable 'manes' of spiky hair around their face.

    Blue-Eyed Lemurs: Or why gentlemen prefer blondes. Field Notes 2008

  • "Bedad, I don't ondercumstubble," he replied, taking off his cap and scratching his head reflectively, rather taken aback by my Latin quotation; "though if that haythen lingo manes soft sawder, by the powers I've got lashins av it!

    Afloat at Last A Sailor Boy's Log of his Life at Sea William Heysham Overend 1874

  • Ever north, through a fat and flourishing rejuvenated land, stopping at the towns of Willows, Red Bluff and Redding, crossing the counties of Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, and Shasta, went the spruce wagon drawn by the dappled chestnuts with cream-colored manes and tails.

    CHAPTER XV 2010

  • The men greeted him with feet threateningly lifted for the kick, the dogs with bristling manes and bared fangs.

    BÂTARD 2010

  • I posted last night about heroes and tousled manes at Oddshots last night.

    Oddshots Post Nalini Singh 2009

  • I posted last night about heroes and tousled manes at Oddshots last night.

    Archive 2009-11-01 Nalini Singh 2009

  • There are a few actresses, like Betty White, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench, who proudly sport their white manes on screen, and even the occasional part that requires gray for the role -- remember Streep went white to play The Devil Wears Prada's Miranda?

    A Gray Area? Rethinking Hair Norms 2011

  • "They're the cruddy ones no one wants, not the spectacular, awesome ones with fairy wings and gypsy stallions with big manes," she says.

    Virtual Products, Real Profits Nick Wingfield 2011

  • Sled collided with sled, and dog-team fastened upon dog-team with bristling manes and screaming fangs.

    A DAUGHTER OF THE AURORA 2010

Comments

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  • Also-n.pl. The spirits of the dead, regarded as minor supernatural powers in ancient Roman religion

    December 8, 2007

  • Whole hecatombs ought to be offered up to the manes of my Clarissa Lovelace.

    Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

    December 8, 2007

  • Tomorrow is the day that will, in all probability, send either one or two ghosts to attend the manes of my Clarissa.

    Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

    December 8, 2007