manners
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Related to manners: Table manners
man·ner
(măn′ər)n.
Idioms: 1. A way of doing something or the way in which a thing is done or happens: prepared for the trip in a very organized manner. See Synonyms at method.
2. A way of acting; bearing or behavior: He is known for his reserved manner.
3. manners
a. The socially correct way of acting; etiquette: had trouble mastering manners in his new country.
b. The prevailing customs, social conduct, and norms of a specific society, period, or group, especially as the subject of a literary work: a novel of 18th-century manners.
4. Practice, style, execution, or method in the arts: This fresco is typical of the painter's early manner.
5.
a. Kind; sort: What manner of person is she?
b. Kinds; sorts: saw all manner of people at the mall.
in a manner of speaking
In a way; so to speak.
to the manner born
Accustomed to a position, custom, or lifestyle from or as if from birth.
[Middle English manere, from Old French maniere, from feminine of manier, handmade, skillful, from Vulgar Latin *manuārius, convenient, handy, from Latin, of the hand, from manus, hand; see man- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
manners
(ˈmænəz)pl n
1. social conduct: he has the manners of a pig.
2. a socially acceptable way of behaving
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Manners
See Also: BEHAVIOR, PROPRIETY/IMPROPRIETY
- As chatty and polite as Rotarians —Richard Ford
- Decorously polite as patients in a dentist’s waiting room —Francis King
- Evil manners will, like watered grass, grow up very quickly —Plautus
While bad manners might no longer be looked upon as evil, Plautus’ simile in relation to how any evil spreads remains true.
- Had the manners of a disobliging steamroller … and he was rather less particular about his dress than a scarecrow —George Bernard Shaw
- His speech sounds like a spoken bread-and-butter note —W. P. Kinsella
See Also: SPEAKING
- Manners are like spices, you can’t make a meal of them but they add a great deal to the meal’s enjoyment —Anon
- Manners are like the cipher in arithmetic; they may not be of much value in themselves, but they are capable of adding a great deal to the value of everything else —Anon
- Manners … as soft as wool —Lorenz Hart
This is part of the refrain of a song named “Moon of My Delight” written for Chee-Chee.
- Our manners, like our faces, though ever so beautiful must differ in their beauty —Lord Shaftesbury
- The pleasure of courtesy is like the pleasure of good dancing —Alain
- Polite as pie —F. van Wyck Mason
- Politeness is like an air-cushion; there may be nothing to it, but it eases our jolts wonderfully —Samuel Johnson
- Rudeness (to Mrs. Dosely) was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate, it slid and melted away —Elizabeth Bowen
- Sedate as a judge in court —Rhys Davies
- Sit bolt upright and smile without cease like a well-bred dinner guest —Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
- To be cordial is like roughing a man’s head to jolly him up, or kissing a child that doesn’t want to be kissed. You are relieved when it’s over —George Santayana
- Ungracious as a hog —Tobias Smollett
- Ungracious … like a child who opens a birthday gift and barely glances at it before reaching to unwarp the next —Barbara Lazear Ascher
- An ungracious man is like a story told at the wrong time —The Holy Bible/Apocrypha
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Noun | 1. |  manners - social deportment; "he has the manners of a pig"demeanor, demeanour, deportment, behaviour, conduct, behavior - (behavioral attributes) the way a person behaves toward other people plural, plural form - the form of a word that is used to denote more than one |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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