Meanings
plural manefaires · alternative mainfaire
- possibly erroneousProtective armor for a horse's neck; a crinet or criniere.
The then proceeded to prove to Sir Philip Beauchamp, that the suit would not be complete without the testière, the chanfron, and the manefaire and poitral of the horse to correspond; […]
1844, George Payne Rainsford James, Agincourt: A Romance, page 1422 more examples
The Criniere or Manefaire consisted of a number of small plates, generally about twelve, hooked together and to the chanfron, so as to be moveable, their use was to guard the neck of the horse from the stroke of a cutting sword.
1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 30The horse of a knight […] has a large criniere of mail pendant from the manefaire. […] The knight who carries the standard of Kybourgh has a manefaire on his horse of little plates rivetted on cloth, with a criniere below, and the bearer of the flag of Reineck, a poitrel on his horse, […]
1842, S.R. Meyrick, A Critical Inquiry Into Antient Armour, as it Existed in Europe, Particularly in Great Britain, from the Norman Conquest to the Reign of King Charles II: Ill. by a Series of Illuminated Engravings : with a Glossary of Military Terms of the Middle Ages, page 202
Origin
From Middle English mayndefer, maynfer, and maynefere, attested in lists of armor used by men and their horses. In the 17- and 1800s, Francis Grose, Samuel Rush Meyrick and other antiquarians took the term to denote a horse's neck armor, connecting it to mane; Harold Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon and Charles John ffoulkes have argued that this is an error and that term referred to a kind of gauntlet, from French main de fer (literally “hand of iron”), now often spelled manifer.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
manefaire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/manefaire
“manefaire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/manefaire. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “manefaire,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/manefaire.
Source: manefaire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.