maneuver

Formsmaneuvers, maneuvering, maneuvered

Pluralmaneuvers

1. 1
   move carefullyverbtransitive or intransitive

   To guide something, or make one's way, carefully into a particular position, often with effort or difficulty.

   It took three of us to maneuver the piano through the narrow doorway.

   She maneuvered through the crowded room toward the exit.

   Similarease, wrestle

   Note

   The verb works both ways: you maneuver something into place, or maneuver yourself, or simply maneuver through a crowd with no object at all. A word of direction usually follows, such as into, through, out of or around. Its neighbors mark the range of effort, from ease, for a gentle, careful move, to wrestle, for a struggle with something heavy or awkward.

2. 2
   vehicle controlnouncountable

   A controlled movement made while steering a vehicle, especially a skillful one.

   The pilot performed a sharp evasive maneuver to avoid the flock of birds.

   Backing a trailer into a tight space is one of the hardest maneuvers for new drivers.

   Similarmove

3. 3
   nouncountable

   Any strategic or cunning action; a clever scheme or trick.

   Calling an early vote was a political maneuver to catch the opposition unprepared.

   Her lawyers saw through the company's legal maneuvers and pressed on with the case.

   Similarploy, tactic, stratagem, ruse, scheme

   Note

   Scheming has worn the word since at least Frances Burney's Cecilia (1782), where a character greets another's plot as "a manœuvre I have been some time expecting", still in its French spelling. Modern use tends to name the arena: a political maneuver, a legal maneuver, a maneuver in the boardroom.

4. 4
   militarynouncountable

   A planned, strategic movement of troops, vehicles, and the like; also, a large field exercise in which military units train.

   A sudden flanking maneuver by the cavalry broke the enemy line.

   Two armored divisions are on maneuvers in the desert this month.

   Similarmovement, exercise, operation

   Note

   In military use the battlefield sense came first and the training sense later, and the second lives in the plural: an army on maneuvers is practicing, often alongside allies, not fighting. The spelling here, and in every use of the word, is American; outside the US it is usually manoeuvre, nearer the French.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A movement of the body or of a tool or instrument, especially one done with skill or dexterity.

   The gymnast finished her routine with a difficult twisting maneuver on the beam.

   With a quick maneuver of the spatula, the chef flipped the omelet without breaking it.

   Similarmove, movement

   Note

   The word began with the hands: Medieval Latin manopera was work done by hand, from manu, "by hand", and operari, "to work", and it reached English through French manœuvre. Of all the word's senses, this one stays closest to that root, since skill of hand or body is its whole point.

6. 6
   medicinenouncountable

   A specific medical or surgical movement, often named after its originator, performed with a doctor's hands or with surgical instruments.

   The obstetrician used a series of maneuvers to free the baby's shoulder during delivery.

   After a quick Epley maneuver in the clinic, her dizziness disappeared.

   Note

   Surnames crowd this sense: medicine names many of its maneuvers after the doctor who described them, so the word usually comes after a name, as in the Epley maneuver, a series of head movements for a common kind of vertigo. Not every maneuver is a cure; some are tests, done during an examination to bring out a telltale sign.

7. 7
   verbfigurativelytransitive

   To guide, steer, or manage someone or something with a clear purpose.

   The senator maneuvered the bill through committee without a single amendment.

   Good managers know how to maneuver a team through a crisis.

   Similarsteer, guide, navigate, shepherd, pilot

8. 8
   schemeverbfigurativelyintransitive

   To scheme or plot, working behind the scenes to manipulate events or people.

   For months the rival factions maneuvered behind the scenes for control of the party.

   Executives who maneuver for promotion often make enemies along the way.

   Similarscheme, plot, intrigue, jockey

   Note

   This is the scheming use of the verb without an object, and it often carries for to name the prize: rivals maneuver for position or advantage, and the word suggests moves made out of sight. Set it beside the steering verb, which takes an object and can sound admiring, as when a senator maneuvers a bill through committee; this one seldom flatters the person doing it.

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