manna

4 definitions found

manna - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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]

manna - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  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, manna from heaven]

manna - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  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).

manna - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  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