manner

plural manners

1. Mode of action; way of performing or doing anything.

   The treacherous manner of his mournful death.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

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   Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: method, style, form, fashion, way

2. Characteristic mode of acting or behaving; bearing.

   His natural manner makes him seem like the boss.

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   The captain's imperturbable manner gave the crew confidence.

   [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.

   2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: air, comportment, mien, abear, abearance, bearing, behavior, carriage

3. One's customary method of acting; habit.

   These people have strange manners.

4. Good, polite behaviour.

   Harriet was not insensible of manner; she had voluntarily noticed her father’s gentleness with admiration as well as wonder. Mr. Martin looked as if he did not know what manner was.

   1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 4, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC

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   But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

5. The style of writing or thought of an author; the characteristic peculiarity of an artist.
6. A certain degree or measure.

   It is in a manner done already.

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   The fact that we have hundreds of positive, lesbian-affirming novels available today in no manner takes away from the basic high romance of The Price of Salt. The new edition is virtually the same in text as the original.

   1984 December 29, Nancy Walker, “Classic Romance: Enduring Charm”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 8

7. Sort; kind; style.

   All manner of persons participate.

8. Standards of conduct cultured and product of mind.

present singular third person manners · participle present mannering · participle past mannered · past mannered

1. transitiveTo instill manners into.

   They are there to manner a child's natural abilities. They are culture club authorities and representatives. They teach children appropriate public (and private) behavior; […]

   2004, Susan Felicity Minsos, Weird Tit-for-Tat, page 62

plural manners

1. in compoundsrareSomething involving or requiring the specified number of men or people.

   It was rather ironic that my first fire in every one of my three smokejunping ^([sic]) years was a high-mountain two-manner . . . and they all were on the Flathead National Forest […]

   2006, Frank Fowler, High-Mountain Two-Manner, page 258

plural Manners

1. A surname.