Word.ws English Dictionary

manifer

/ˈmæn.ɪˌfɝ/

manifer noun: a large gauntlet worn over the bridle hand during jousting tournaments.

Noun

manifer (plural manifers)

  1. A large gauntlet worn over the bridle hand during jousting tournaments.
    • In addition to the ordinary tilting armour extra pieces were worn : The grandguard and volant piece, very often riveted together; the elbow or pasguard, and the manifer or miton gauntlet for the bridle hand.1898, The Archaeological Journal, page 312
    • (vii) The manifer (reinforcing bridle gauntlet for the tilt) was examined in cross-section. The microstructure shows tempered martensite and bands of ferrite, associated with corrosion cracks.2003, Alan R. Williams, The Knight and the Blast Furnace: A History of the Metallurgy of Armour in the Middle Ages & the Early Modern Period, BRILL, →ISBN, page 805

Forms of manifer

pluralmanifers

Origin of manifer

Manifer (mainfer, mainfere) ("gauntlet") and manefaire (mainfaire) ("horse's neck armor") are often taken to have originally been one word, attested in Middle English as mayndefer, maynfer, and maynefere in lists of armor used by men and their horses. Harold Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon and Charles John ffoulkes take the meaning of "gauntlet" to be the original, from French main de fer (literally “hand of iron”); see manefaire (“horse's neck armor”) for more on that meaning.

Questions about manifer

What does manifer mean?
Manifer means a large gauntlet worn over the bridle hand during jousting tournaments.
What part of speech is manifer?
Manifer is a noun.
How do you pronounce manifer?
Manifer is pronounced /ˈmæn.ɪˌfɝ/.
What is the plural of manifer?
The plural of manifer is manifers.

Words near manifer in the dictionary

  1. manie
  2. manienie
  3. manies
  4. manifaceted
  5. manifaxine
  6. manifer
  7. manifers
  8. manifest
  9. manifest destiny
  10. manifest file
  11. manifest files

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: manifer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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