manna - Definition of manna at Define.com Dictionary and Thesaurus (define manna)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Manna \Man"na\ (m[a^]n"n[.a]), noun [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.

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}.

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.

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.

{Manna insect} (Zo["o]l), a scale insect ({Gossyparia mannipara}), which causes the exudation of manna from the Tamarix tree in Arabia.

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

manna

noun

1: hardened sugary exudation of various trees

2: (Old Testament) food that God gave the Israelites during the Exodus [syn: {miraculous food}, {manna from heaven}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

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

MANNA, noun A food miraculously given to the Israelites in the wilderness. When it was no longer supplied to them they settled down and tilled the soil, fertilizing it, as a rule, with the bodies of the original occupants.

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

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).