from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Manna \Man"na\ (m[a^]n"n[.a]), n. [L., fr. Gr. ma`nna, Heb.
m[=a]n; cf. Ar. mann, properly, gift (of heaven).]
1. (Script.) The food supplied to the Israelites in their
journey through the wilderness of Arabia; hence, divinely
supplied food. --Ex. xvi. 15.
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2. (Bot.) A name given to lichens of the genus {Lecanora},
sometimes blown into heaps in the deserts of Arabia and
Africa, and gathered and used as food; called also {manna
lichen}.
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3. (Bot. & Med.) A sweetish exudation in the form of pale
yellow friable flakes, coming from several trees and
shrubs and used in medicine as a gentle laxative, as the
secretion of {Fraxinus Ornus}, and {Fraxinus
rotundifolia}, the manna ashes of Southern Europe.
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Note: {Persian manna} is the secretion of the camel's thorn
(see {Camel's thorn}, under {Camel}); {Tamarisk manna},
that of the {Tamarisk mannifera}, a shrub of Western
Asia; {Australian, manna}, that of certain species of
eucalyptus; {Brian[,c]on manna}, that of the European
larch.
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{Manna insect} (Zool), a scale insect ({Gossyparia
mannipara}), which causes the exudation of manna from the
Tamarix tree in Arabia.
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