Dictionary

manavelins en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• (General-American) audio
• /məˈnæv(ə)lɪnz/

Etymology

Uncertain, but probably from manarvel (“to steal food or supplies from a ship's store”) + -ing + -s. Possibly related to minnow (“a relatively small and insignificant person or organization”).

Meanings

1. (plural, plural-only) Odds and ends, leftovers, or scraps of food.
   • A very good table was kept, and the dog-basket and 'menavelings' from it alone would have supplied the fo'c'stle twice over. 1893, John Arthur Barry, Steve Brown's Bunyip: And Other Stories, page 34:
   • For many of the maize farms where, by reason of the “menavelings” from the grain crop, it is possible to get good supplies of pig grain at little cost, such a system would be admirable. 1901, Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, page 512:
   • He efficiently loaded our bicycles and manavelins onto a waiting Volkswagen bus. 2011, V. Traven, Memoirs of a Dromomaniac, page 183:

Forms

Relateds

manarvel