manta (manta)

[Sp. (and Pg.), a blanket: see mantle.] 1. A coarse unbleached cotton fabric which forms the staple clothing of the common people p of Mexico.-2. In In mining, mining, a blanket or sack of ore; a placer in situ. [Western U. S.]-3. The Spanish-American name of an enormous devil-fish or sea-devil, an eagle ray of the family Ceratopterida. Hence-4. [ cap.] [NL.] A genus of such rays. Manta bi rostris is a species of the warmer American waters. It is a synonym of Ceratoptera. Mantchoo, n. and a. A spelling of Manchu1. manteau (man'tō), n. [Formerly also manto, mantoe (also by corruption mantua, q. v.); He presents him with a white horse, a manto, or blacke coole [cowl], a pastoral staff. Rycaut , State of the Greek Church, p. 96. Specifically-2. A woman's cloak or outer garment; especially, a mantle open in front and displaying the skirt or petticoat. 3617 Hast thou any mantoes for ladies made after thine own fashion, which shall cover all their naked shoulders, and breasts, and necks, and adorn them all over? England's Vanity (1683), p. 80. (Nares.) I met her this Morning, in a new Manteau and Petticoat, not a bit the worse for her Lady's wearing. Steele, Conscious Lovers, i. 1. But since in braided gold her foot is bound, And a long trailing manteau sweeps the ground, Her shoe disdains the street. Gay, Trivia, i. 110. mantel (man'tl), n. [ tel , a cloak, a shelf over a fireplace: see man tle , of which mantel is but an older spelling, retained only in the architectural sense, without particular reason.] 1. A cloak. See mantle (the present spelling in this sense).-2. In arch ., all the work or facing around a fireplace, Mantel. Cloister of St. Elne, near Perpignan, France; 13th century. resting against the chimney, and usually projecting and more or le ornamental. It includes mantelpiece or chimneypiece, with the mantel-shelf, when this is present, and the hood of fireplaces having this feature. 3. In a restricted sense, a mantel-shelf. mantel board (man'tl-bord), n. The shelf of a mantelpiece, especially when movable and forming rather a part of the over-mantel than of the chimneypiece proper. mantel-clock (man'tl-klok), n. A clock or timepiece intended to stand on a mantel-shelf. The mantle- clock strikes six sharp insisting blows as she exclaims. W. M. Baker , New Timothy, p. 25. mantelet, mantlet (man'tel-et, mant'let), n. [Formerly also mantel let ; mantelet , mantelet , F. mantelet (= Sp. Pg. mantelete = It. mantel let to , mantelletta ), dim. of mantel , a cloak: see mantel , mantle .] 1. A short cloak or mantle. (a) A short cloak worn in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by knights. A mantelet upon his shuldre hanginge, Bret-ful of rubies reede, as fyr sparklinge. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1305. (b) A woman's garment, narrower than the mantle, and approaching the form of a tippet or broad scarf, worn over 2. Same as coin toise. See also lambrequin , 1 ( a ). -3. In gun ., a shield to protect men serv ing guns in embrasures, casemates, or portholes from the bullets of sharpshooters.-4. A movable roof or screen used in sieges, etc., to protect the besiegers in their attacks. See cat - castle , vine a , sow2 , 4. From these mantel lets they shot great pieces, as Culuerings, double gunnes, and great bombards. Hakluyt's Voyages , II. 79. They bring forward mantelets and pavi es, and the arch ers muster on the skirts of the wood. " Scott , Ivanhoe, xxvii. 5. A movable shelter used in a hunting-field. The mysteries of battues, shooting grouse from mant lets, every department, in short, of modern sport with the The Academy, Feb. 4, 1888, p. 77. gun. 6. A flexible covering, usually of rope, drawn close round a gun when it is discharged. Encyc. Brit., IX. 453.