English

Verb

manure ‎(third-person singular simple present manures, present participle manuring, simple past and past participle manured)

1. To cultivate by manual labor; to till; hence, to develop by culture.
   • Surrey

     to whom we gave the strand for to manure

   • John Donne

     Manure thyself then; to thyself be improved; / And with vain, outward things be no more moved.

2. To apply manure (as fertilizer or soil improver).

   The farmer manured his fallow field.

   • Shakespeare

     The blood of English shall manure the ground.

Derived terms

• manurable

Translations

See also

• to fertilize

Noun

manure ‎(countable and uncountable, plural manures)

1. Animal excrement, especially that of common domestic farm animals and when used as fertilizer. Generally speaking, from cows, horses, sheep, pigs and chickens.
   • 2014 April 21, Mary Keen, “You can still teach an old gardener new tricks: Even the hardiest of us gardeners occasionally learn useful new techniques [print version: Gardening is always ready to teach even the hardiest of us a few new tricks, 19 April 2014]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), page G7:

     [T]he very wet winter will have washed much of the goodness out of the soil. Homemade compost and the load of manure we get from a friendly farmer may not be enough to compensate for what has leached from the ground.

2. Any fertilizing substance, whether of animal origin or not.
   • Sir Humphry Davy

     Malt dust consists chiefly of the infant radicle separated from the grain. I have never made any experiment upon this manure; but there is great reason to suppose it must contain saccharine matter; and this will account for its powerful effects.

Derived terms

• humanure

Translations

See also

• fertilizer
• muck