▪ I. manifold, a., adv., and n. Now chiefly literary.
(ˈmænɪfəʊld)
Forms: α. 1 maniᵹ-, moniᵹ-, mæniᵹ-, meniᵹf(e)ald, 1–2 mænifeald, 2 manifald, 2–3 -feald, 2–6 monifald, (4 monyfaulde), 4–5 many-, monyfald(e, (6 many-, mony-, moniefauld). β. 1 meni(ᵹ)fæld, -feld, 3–4 manifeld. γ. (2 monifold, 3 maniuold, maniȝefold), 3–7, 9 manyfold, (4 manye-), 4–6 manyfolde (5 maniefoold, mony-, manye-, 6 manniefolde), 6–7 manifolde, (7 manyfould), 3– manifold.
[Common Teut.: OE. maniᵹfeald = OFris. manichfald, OS. managfald (MLG. mannichvolt, MDu. menichvout), OHG. manacfalt (MHG. manecvalt, mod.G. mannigfalt), ON. margfaldr (OSw. marghfalder, mangfalder, Sw. mångfalt), Goth. managfalþs: see many a. and -fold. A form with adj. suffix (= -y) occurs as MLG. mannichvoldech, MDu. menichvoudich (Du. menigvuldig), G. mannichfaltig, Sw. mångfaldig, Da. mangfoldich.]
A. adj.
1. a. Varied or diverse in appearance, form, or character; having various forms, features, relations, applications, etc.; † complex.
In OE. used Gram. for ‘plural’ (ælfric Gram. viii).
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 448 Þes pistol is swiðe meniᵹ⁓feald us to ᵹereccenne. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 448/21 Multimodam, maniᵹfealdne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 145 Alle we beoð in monifald wawe ine þisse wreche liue. a 1225 Ancr. R. 176 Vor þer beoð uttre & inre [uondunges]; & eiðer is moniuold. a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 193 Mid ham is muruhðe moniuold wið-ute teone and treie. 1382 Wyclif 1 Pet. iv. 10 As goode dispenderes of the manyfolde grace of God. 1430 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 377/2 The horribilite of his so manyfolde Treson. 1535 Coverdale Wisd. vii. 22 In hir is y⊇ sprete of vnderstandinge, which is holy, manifolde, one onely, sotyll. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 17 Chorographie..is in practise manifolde, and in vse very ample. 1603 Daniel Panegyr. to King, etc. To Lady Margaret 25 He sees the face of Right t'appeare as manyfold As are the passions of vncertaine man. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 16 Which they not obeying, Incurr'd..the penaltie, And manifold in sin, deserv'd to fall. 1784 Cowper Task v. 769 This changeful life, So manifold in cares, whose every day Brings its own evil with it. 1832 Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms Introd. 12 The truth is one, error is manifold. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 497 He hated the Puritan sects with a manifold hatred, theological and political, hereditary and personal. 1865 W. G. Palgrave Arabia I. 424 Coffee though one in name is manifold in fact. 1865 Swinburne Poems & Ballads, Hesperia 21 Profound and manifold flower. |
b. Qualifying a personal designation: That is such in many ways or in many relations; entitled to the name on many grounds. Also (nonce-uses) of persons: Many-minded, variable; having many diverse capacities.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 187 Twifold oðer manifold is þe man þe nis stedefast ne on dade ne on speche ne on þonke. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 265 The manifold Linguist, and the army-potent souldier. 1605 ― Lear v. iii. 114 If any man of qualitie..will maintaine vpon Edmund..that he is a manifold Traitor. 1694 Congreve Double Dealer v. xxiv, Secure that manifold villain. 1842 Mozley in Brit. Critic XXXI. 173 Like a man who is at once clear-headed and manifold, if we may be allowed the word, in his ideas. 1885 R. Bridges Nero ii. iii, To sit upon their rare, successive thrones, A manifold Augusta! |
c. In technical and commercial use.
| 1851 Offic. Catal. Gt. Exhib. II. 597 A manifold bell-pull constructed on an entirely new plan, by which one pull is made to ring bells in any number of rooms. 1857 Tregelles tr. Gesenius' Heb. Lex. s.v. {hebbeth}{hebgimel}וע, Ambubaja (i.e. tibicina Hor.)..a double or manifold pipe, an instrument composed of many pipes. 1879 Stainer Music of Bible 95 Two classes of ‘manifold-pipes’ can exist, the one..a collection of flauti traversi, the other..of flûtes à bec. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 25 May 4/2 A model military balloon of the regulation-varnished manifold goldbeater's-skin variety. |
2. Qualifying a plural n. († or collective noun): Numerous and varied; of many kinds or varieties. † Formerly simply: Numerous, many.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xiii. 6 Heora æhta wæron meniᵹfælde. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 11 Muchel is us þenne neod..swiðe adreden ure monifolde sunne. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2502 And his kin wexen maniȝe-fold. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 293/179 Þat folk cam mani-folde A-boute Theofle in eche side. ? a 1390 Chaucer Proverbes i, What shul thise clothes many⁓fold, Lo! this hote somers day? a 1400 Cursor M. 27887 (Cott. Galba) Dronkinhede..And mase meschefes ful many falde. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 41 Considering so many folde tymes we haue ben deceived. 1535 Coverdale Ps. ciii. 24 O Lorde, how manifolde are thy workes. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer Collect 4th Sund. Easter, The sondery and manifold chaunges of the worlde. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 114 You will runne into such vntimely sorrowes as with manifold teares will hardly be washed. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech 86 b, Quhat fruict haue we of yis sacrament being deulie receauit? Verray gryt and monifald. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxviii. §6 Her mani⁓folde varieties in rites and Ceremonies of Religion. 1605 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 372 The manyfould downefalles into synne. 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 47 The manifold appearances of design and of final causes, in the constitution of the world. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 624 So manifold, all pleasing in their kind, All healthful, are the employs of rural life. 1844 Stanley Arnold (1858) I. Pref. 1 The manifold kindnesses with which they have assisted me. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 146 Clarendon was overwhelmed by manifold vexations. 1880 Geikie Phys. Geog. ii. x. 67 It is from this circulation of water that all the manifold phenomena of clouds, rain, snow, rivers, glaciers, and lakes arise. |
† 3. Math. = multiple. manifold to = a multiple of. Obs.
| 1557 Recorde Whetst. B iv b, There is one kinde of proportion, that is named multiplex, or manyfolde. 1660 Barrow Euclid vii. Post. 1 That numbers equal or manifold to any number may be taken at pleasure. |
¶ 4. how manifold? (= how many + -fold): Of how many kinds? Obs. rare—1.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. viii. (1636) 287 How manifold is the moving of this heaven? The moving of this heaven..is threefold. |
B. adv.
† 1. a. In many ways, modes, degrees, etc.; in first quot. = in many pieces. Obs.
| 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 4024 Alle þai hadde to-broken his scheld, & his brini to-rent manifeld. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3250 Þair payn es turned manyfalde, Now er þai in hete, and now in calde. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 413 God þai lowit mony-fald for þis merwale. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 269 Þou muste make a plate of iren..þat mote be fooldid manie foold in þe forseid ligature. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xlii. 4 How that Nasciens þis writ gan beholde, and there-Onne loked ful Many folde. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 122 Sinnand rycht mony fald. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 12 Then when his daughter deare he does behold, Her dearely doth imbrace, and kisseth mani⁓fold. 1593 Tell-Troth's N.Y. Gift (1876) 44 Thus shall loues followers be thrise happy, and thus Robin goodfellowes well-willers, in imitating his care, bee manifolde blessed. |
† b. In the proportion of many to one. [The etymological sense.] Obs.
| 1611 Bible Luke xviii. 30 Who shall not receiue manifold more in this present time. |
C. absol. and n.1
† 1. Phr. by (rarely on) manifold: many times over; in the proportion of many to one. Obs.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6900 He byeþ þyn almes on manyfolde. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 186 Wherof the man..Stant more worth..Than he stod erst be manyfold. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 607 More Curtaysi Fand he..mar conforth, by mony falde, Than Colgrevance had him of talde. 1415 Hoccleve To Sir J. Oldcastle 58 Thoffense..Was nat so greet as thyn by many fold. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 191 The theif Judas did greit trespas, That Christ for siluer sauld: Bot Preistis wil tak, and his price mak, For les be mony fauld. 1596 Raleigh Discov. Gviana A iv, The countrey hath more quantity of Gold by manifolde, then the best partes of the Indies. |
2. That which is manifold. a. spec. In the Kantian philosophy, the sum of the particulars furnished by sense before they have been unified by the synthesis of the understanding.
This renders G. mannigfaltiges, mannigfaltigkeit. Some earlier English translations of Kant's works have multifarious, multiple, multiplex.
| 1855 Meiklejohn tr. Kant's Crit. Pure Reason 63 By means of the synthetical unity of the manifold in intuition. 1877 E. Caird Philos. Kant ii. i. 199 The activity of the mind must bring with it certain principles of relation, under which the manifold of sense must be brought. |
b. gen.
| 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 65 His aim should rather be..instead of going out into the Manifold, to forsake it for the One. 1874 Sayce Compar. Philol. vi. 243 Out of the manifold comes the simple, out of the multitudinous the single. 1889 Skrine Mem. E. Thring 256 The chosen abstraction which gathers up into a focus the manifold of human duty, experience, and hope. 1902 Q. Rev. Oct. 496 The picturesque manifold of life. |
3. Math. = manifoldness 2.
| 1890 in Century Dict. 1902 B. A. W. Russell in Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 666/1 Riemann's Work contains two fundamental conceptions, that of a manifold, and that of the measure of curvature of a continuous manifold possessed of what he calls flatness in the smallest parts... Conceptions of magnitude, he explains, are only possible where we have a general conception capable of determination in various ways. The manifold consists of all these various determinations, each of which is an element of the manifold. 1902 G. B. Mathews ibid. XXXI. 281/2 A manifold may consist of a single element. |
4. a. A copy made by a manifold-writer.
| 1884 in Cassell's Encycl. Dict. |
b. Short for manifold-paper.
| 1897 B. Stoker Dracula xvii. 229, I began to type⁓write from the beginning of the seventh cylinder. I used manifold, and so took three copies of the diary. 1926 Paper Terminol. (Spalding & Hodge) ii. 16 Manifold, slightly waxed tissue or other thin interleaving paper made for employment with carbon paper. Also an extremely thin typewriting made for the multiplication to as many as ten or twelve carbon copies of typewritten letters. 1954 Ibid. 38 Manifold, papers similar in character to Bank, although thinner. They range in substance from 16½ × 21 in. 4½ lb. 500's to 8 lb. 500's and are used when a large number of carbon copies is required. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes xi. 485 Manifold, thin, strong, [for] duplicate copies, sales books, etc. |
5. Mech. Any pipe that splits into a number of branches; spec. the one running from the carburettor of an internal-combustion engine to the cylinders, and the one from the silencer to the cylinders.
| a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 579/2 Manifold, the chambers with nozzles into and from which the pipes of a radiator lead. 1891 Patterson Naut. Dict. 332 Manifold, a pipe or chamber to which are connected several branch suction pipes with their valves and one or more main suctions to pump. 1919 [see exhaust-manifold s.v. exhaust n. 3]. 1948 ‘Motor’ Manual (ed. 33) v. 99 The induction manifold of a modern engine generally is heated by the exhaust. This..can be easily and neatly arranged in most engines because the exhaust manifold usually is close to the inlet manifold. 1961 Economist 30 Dec. 1306/1 Ford provides only the carburettor, inlet manifold and camshaft for the Classic [motor car]. 1971 Sci. Amer. Sept. 222/3 All gases are admitted through needle valves to a manifold that connects to the laser. |
D. Comb.: manifold letter-book (see quot. 1869); manifold-paper, carbonized paper used in making several copies of a writing at one time; manifold writer, an apparatus fitted with carbonized paper for making copies of a writing; so manifold writing.
| 1808 R. Wedgwood in Abridg. Specif. Patents, Writ. Instr. (1869) 14 A..pen and stylographic manifold writer. 1851 in Illustr. Lond. News 5 Aug. (1854) 119/1 (Occupations of People) Manifold-paper-maker. 1862 W. Clark in Abr. Specif. Patents, Writ. Instr. (1869) 319 An improved apparatus for manifold writing. 1869 Ibid. 275 Improvement in arranging manifold letter books. The patentee arranges leaves of copying and common writing paper alternately, and binds them together. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Dec. 12/1 The principle of the manifold writer, the great friend of newspaper reporters. 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 289 The office copy is in pencil, the public copy in manifold writing. |
[C.] [3.] Substitute for def.: [tr. G. Mannigfaltigkeit (B. Riemann Grundlagen für eine Allgemeine Theorie der Functionen (1867) 26).] A topological space each point of which has a neighbourhood homoeomorphic to the interior of a sphere in a Euclidean space of given dimension; = manifoldness n. 2.
| 1878 Mind III. 213 The space-representation might still be the necessary a priori form in which every co-extended manifold is perceived. 1886 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. XVIII. 59 The manifold I described in my paper is not a space. [Note] This term is now generally used instead of the more cumbrous ‘manifoldness’. 1897 B. Russell Ess. Found. Geom. i. 14 Riemann's epoch-making work..was written, and read to a small circle, in 1854..it remained unpublished till 1867... The two fundamental conceptions..are that of a manifold, and that of the measure of curvature of a manifold. 1926 Proc. Sect. Sci. Kon. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam XXIX. 618 It will be shewn that bounded and unbounded n-manifolds are in fact bounded and unbounded n-arrays in the sense already defined. 1945 E. T. Bell Devel. Math. (ed. 2) ix. 203 A ‘real’ space or ‘manifold’ of n dimensions is the set, or class, of all ordered n-ples ( x1, x2,.. , xn ) of n real numbers..each of which ranges over a prescribed class of real numbers. 1966 Mathematical Rev. XXXI. 33/2 (title) Some growth and ramification properties of certain integrals on algebraic manifolds. 1981 A. Salam in J. H. Mulvey Nature of Matter v. 119 Einstein found that the gravitational charge could be represented in terms of curvature in a four-dimensional manifold of space and time. 1986 New Scientist 12 June 48/2 The space-time in which we live is expected to be a manifold because the neighbourhood of any point resembles flat space-time. |
▪ II. ˈmanifold, n.2 dial.
Also manifolds: for Forms see E.D.D.
[f. many a. + fold n.3 Cf. G. mannigfalt.]
The intestines or bowels; spec. the manyplies or third stomach of a ruminant.
| c 1280 Monifauldes [see chitterling 1]. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. i. 4 The third stomach..which is called the manyfold, from the number of its leaves. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Moneyfawd,..the countryman's term for a cow's stomach. 1864 Webster, Manifolds, the third stomach of a ruminant animal. (Local. U.S.) 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Manifolds, the intestines. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss. (ed. 2), Manifold, the stomach; the bowels of man and the lower animals. |
▪ III. manifold, v.
(ˈmænɪfəʊld)
Also 3 maniuolden, 4 north. many-, manifald.
[OE. maniᵹfealdian (Sweet), mæniᵹfealdian (cf. ᵹemaniᵹ-, ᵹemæniᵹ-, ᵹemeniᵹfealdian, fieldan) = OHG. managfaltôn, manacfaltan (MHG. manacvalten, mod.G. mannichfalten), f. the adj.: see manifold a. The word became obs. in ME., and has recently been formed afresh from the adj.]
trans. To make manifold, multiply. rare exc. as in b.
| c 1000 in Napier O. E. Glosses 5215 Amplificare, mænifeal[dian]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 402 He wule..moniuolden in ou his deorewurðe grace. a 1300 E. E. Psalter xxxvii. 20 And mani falded ere þai [L. multiplicati sunt] for-þi Whilk hated me wickeli. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xv. 3 Many faldid ere thaire seknesis. 1767 [see manifolded below]. 1889 Chicago Advance 19 Sept., Manifolding its appliances, spiritual, educational, and social. 1903 A. M. Clerke Probl. Astrophysics 45 The solitary success of 1896 was manifolded a year and a half later. |
b. spec. To multiply impressions or copies of, as by a manifold-writer. Also absol.
| 1865 [see manifolded below]. 1879 tr. Busch's Bismarck II. 138 Afterwards I write, on the Chief's instructions, two articles, to be manifolded [orig. die sich vervielfältigen sollen]. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. No. 28. 25 Paper of velvet-like quality, impregnated so as to manifold with extreme ease. 1881 Times 27 July 10 The Home Secretary received such precise and timely information that he was enabled to have it manifolded. 1902 E. Banks Newspaper Girl 122, I filled three sheets of paper with it; then I got carbon and manifolded it. |
Hence ˈmanifolded ppl. a., ˈmanifolding vbl. n. (also concr., = manifold n.1 5).
| 1767 S. Paterson Another Trav. II. 206 Has manifolded homebred mischief marred thy rest? 1865 Knight Passages Work. Life III. viii. 162 The untiring Reuter appears..with manifolded copies of his telegram. 1892 Daily News 20 June 11/4 Reporter wanted... Used to manifolding. 1901 Blackw. Mag. June 802/1 This manifolding process would augment in something like geometrical progression. 1938 Times 9 Aug. 8/7 To adjust the tappets it would be best to lift the manifolding. 1963 Bird & Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car 52 Internal manifolding and clean-cut architectural appearance were all in marked contrast to most contemporary engines. |