U

isle of man

noun

Man, Isle of.

noun

Isle of, an island of the British Isles, in the Irish Sea. 227 sq. mi. (588 sq. km). Capital: Douglas.

noun

See (Isle of) Man 2

noun plural men (mɛn)

an adult male human being, as distinguished from a woman
(modifier) male; masculinea man child
archaic a human being regardless of sex or age, considered as a representative of mankind; a person
(sometimes capital) human beings collectively; mankindthe development of man
Also called: modern man
1. a member of any of the living races of Homo sapiens, characterized by erect bipedal posture, a highly developed brain, and powers of articulate speech, abstract reasoning, and imagination
2. any extinct member of the species Homo sapiens, such as Cro-Magnon man
a member of any of the extinct species of the genus Homo, such as Java man, Heidelberg man, and Solo man
an adult male human being with qualities associated with the male, such as courage or virilitybe a man
manly qualities or virtuesthe man in him was outraged
1. a subordinate, servant, or employee contrasted with an employer or manager
2. (in combination)the number of man-days required to complete a job
(usually plural) a member of the armed forces who does not hold commissioned, warrant, or noncommissioned rank (as in the phrase officers and men)
a member of a group, team, etc
a husband, boyfriend, etcman and wife
an expression used parenthetically to indicate an informal relationship between speaker and hearer
a movable piece in various games, such as draughts
Southern African slang any person: used as a term of address
a vassal of a feudal lord
as one man with unanimous action or response
be one’s own man to be independent or free
he’s your man he’s the person needed (for a particular task, role, job, etc)
man and boy from childhood
sort out the men from the boys or separate the men from the boys to separate the experienced from the inexperienced
to a man
1. unanimously
2. without exceptionthey were slaughtered to a man

interjection

informal an exclamation or expletive, often indicating surprise or pleasure

verb mans, manning or manned (tr)

to provide with sufficient people for operation, defence, etcto man the phones
to take one’s place at or near in readiness for action
falconry to induce (a hawk or falcon) to endure the presence of and handling by man, esp strangers

noun the Man (sometimes not capital) US

Black slang a White man or White men collectively, esp when in authority, in the police, or held in contempt
slang a drug peddler

noun

Isle of Man an island in the British Isles, in the Irish Sea between Cumbria and Northern Ireland: a UK Crown Dependency (but not part of the United Kingdom), with its own ancient parliament, the Court of Tynwald; a dependency of Norway until 1266, when for a time it came under Scottish rule; its own language, Manx, became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived to some extent. Capital: Douglas. Pop: 86 159 (2013 est). Area: 588 sq km (227 sq miles)

Old English man, mann “human being, person (male or female); brave man, hero; servant, vassal,” from Proto-Germanic *manwaz (cf. Old Saxon, Swedish, Dutch, Old High German man, German Mann, Old Norse maðr, Danish mand, Gothic manna “man”), from PIE root *man- (1) “man” (cf. Sanskrit manuh, Avestan manu-, Old Church Slavonic mozi, Russian muzh “man, male”).

Plural men (German Männer) shows effects of i-mutation. Sometimes connected to root *men- “to think” (see mind), which would make the ground sense of man “one who has intelligence,” but not all linguists accept this. Liberman, for instance, writes, “Most probably man ‘human being’ is a secularized divine name” from Mannus [cf. Tacitus, “Germania,” chap. 2], “believed to be the progenitor of the human race.”

So I am as he that seythe, `Come hyddr John, my man.’ [1473]

Sense of “adult male” is late (c.1000); Old English used wer and wif to distinguish the sexes, but wer began to disappear late 13c. and was replaced by man. Universal sense of the word remains in mankind and manslaughter. Similarly, Latin had homo “human being” and vir “adult male human being,” but they merged in Vulgar Latin, with homo extended to both senses. A like evolution took place in Slavic languages, and in some of them the word has narrowed to mean “husband.” PIE had two stems: *uiHro “freeman” (cf. Sanskrit vira-, Lithuanian vyras, Latin vir, Old Irish fer, Gothic wair) and *hner “man,” a title more of honor than *uiHro (cf. Sanskrit nar-, Armenian ayr, Welsh ner, Greek aner).

MAN TRAP. A woman’s commodity. [“Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence,” London, 1811]

Man also was in Old English as an indefinite pronoun, “one, people, they.” The chess pieces so called from c.1400. As an interjection of surprise or emphasis, first recorded c.1400, but especially popular from early 20c. Man-about-town is from 1734; the Man “the boss” is from 1918. To be man or mouse “be brave or be timid” is from 1540s. Men’s Liberation first attested 1970.

At the kinges court, my brother, Ech man for himself. [Chaucer, “Knight’s Tale,” c.1386]

Old English mannian “to furnish (a fort, ship, etc.) with a company of men,” from man (n.). Meaning “to take up a designated position on a ship” is first recorded 1690s. Meaning “behave like a man, act with courage” is from c.1400. To man (something) out is from 1660s. Related: Manned; manning.

In addition to the idioms beginning with man

man about town
man in the street
man of few words
man of his word
man of the moment
man of the world
many a
many hands make light work
many happy returns
many is the

also see:

as one (man)
company man
dead soldier (man)
dirty joke (old man)
every man for himself
every man has his price
girl (man) Friday
hatchet man
hired hand (man)
ladies’ man
low man on the totem pole
marked man
new person (man)
no man is an island
odd man out
(man) of few words
one man’s meat is another man’s poison
own man
right-hand man
see a man about a dog
to a man

Also see undermen.