manoeuvre

Etymology

From Middle French manœuvre (“manipulation, manoeuvre”) and manouvrer (“to manoeuvre”), from Old French manovre (“handwork, manual labour”), from Medieval Latin manopera, manuopera (“work done by hand, handwork”), from manu (“by hand”) + operari (“to work”). First recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne (800 AD) to mean "chore, manual task", probably as a calque of the Frankish *handwerc (“hand-work”). Compare Old English handweorc, Old English handġeweorc, German Handwerk.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məˈnuːvə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /məˈnuːvɚ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uːvə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: ma‧noeu‧vre

Noun

manoeuvre (plural manoeuvres)

1. British, Canadian, and Irish, South African, Australian and New Zealand spelling of maneuver

Verb

manoeuvre (third-person singular simple present manoeuvres, present participle manoeuvring, simple past and past participle manoeuvred)

1. (transitive) British, Canadian, and Irish, South African, Australian and New Zealand spelling of maneuver

See also

• overtaking

Anagrams

• manoeuver, manœuver