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manta ray

 - 4 dictionary results

man⋅ta

  [man-tuh; Sp. mahn-tah]
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–noun, plural -tas  [-tuhz; Sp. -tahs] .
1. (in Spain and Spanish America) a cloak or wrap.
2. the type of blanket or cloth used on a horse or mule.
3. Military. a movable shelter formerly used to protect besiegers, as when attacking a fortress.
4. Ichthyology. Also called manta ray, devil ray, devilfish. any of several tropical rays of the small family Mobulidae, esp. of the genus Manta, measuring from 2 to 24 ft. (0.6 to 7.3 m) across, including the pectoral fins.
Origin:
1690–1700; < Sp < Pr: blanket. See mantle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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man·ta   (mān'tə)   
n.  

  1. A rough-textured cotton fabric or blanket made and used in Spanish America and the southwest United States.

  2. Any of several rays of the family Mobulidae, inhabiting tropical and subtropical seas and having a large flattened body, winglike pectoral fins, a whiplike tail, and two hornlike fins that project forward from the head. Also called devilfish, manta ray, sea devil.


[Spanish, blanket, manta (from its blanketlike shape), alteration of manto, cloak, perhaps from Latin mantellum, mantēlum.]
manta ray  
n.  See manta.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

manta 
very large ray, also called devilfish, 1760, from Sp. manta "blanket" (1748 in this sense, specifically in ref. to a type of wrap or cloak worn by Spaniards), from L. mantellum "cloak." The ray so called "for being broad and long like a quilt" [Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, "A Voyage to South America"].
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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