# manoeuvre

Pronunciation: UK say "muh-NOO-vuh" /məˈnuːvə/; US say "muh-NOO-ver" /məˈnuːvɚ/

## Noun

1. A controlled movement made in steering a vehicle, especially one that calls for skill.
   - Simple: A controlled move made while steering a vehicle, often one that needs skill.
   - _The examiner watched closely as she carried out the turn-in-the-road manoeuvre._
   - _A series of tight manoeuvres brought the tanker safely past the harbour wall._
3. A cleverly planned or cunning action, usually meant to outwit others or gain an advantage.
   - Simple: A clever or sly action, planned to get what you want.
   - _Analysts saw the takeover bid as a defensive manoeuvre to keep rivals out of the market._
   - _Her sudden friendliness looked like a manoeuvre to win the committee's votes._
4. A planned movement of troops, vehicles or other forces, or a strategic change of position; also, a large training exercise carried out in the field by fighting units.
   - Simple: A planned move of soldiers or military vehicles, or a big military training exercise.
   - _A flanking manoeuvre at dawn caught the defenders completely off guard._
   - _Tanks churned up the fields during joint manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain._
5. A movement made with the body or with a tool or instrument, particularly a skilful or deft one.
   - Simple: A movement of the body or of a tool, often one done with skill.
   - _With one quick manoeuvre of the knife, the chef lifted the bone out cleanly._
   - _The goalkeeper's acrobatic manoeuvres kept the score level until half-time._
7. A specific movement or physical technique used in medical examination or treatment, often named after a person.
   - Simple: A particular movement or physical technique used to examine or treat someone, often named after a person.
   - _When the baby's shoulder became stuck during the birth, the obstetrician performed a standard manoeuvre, bending the mother's knees up towards her chest to free it._
   - _Obstetricians are trained in several manoeuvres for freeing a baby whose shoulder is stuck._

## Verb

2. To physically move something, such as a car or a heavy object, or to move yourself, carefully into a particular position, often with some difficulty.
   - Simple: To move something, or yourself, carefully into a place, often with some difficulty.
   - _Two removal men tried to manoeuvre the piano up the narrow staircase._
   - _The ferry manoeuvred carefully into its berth as the wind picked up._
6. To use clever and often crafty methods to steer people or events towards the result you want, or to gain an advantage.
   - Simple: To act cleverly, sometimes in a sly way, to make things happen the way you want.
   - _Rival factions began to manoeuvre for position as soon as the leader announced she would step down._
   - _While the others argued openly, she manoeuvred behind the scenes and won the chair._

## Origin

Taken from Middle French, where the noun manœuvre meant "manipulation, manoeuvre" and the verb manouvrer meant "to manoeuvre". These go back through Old French manovre ("handwork, manual labour") to Medieval Latin manopera or manuopera ("work done by hand"), a compound of manu ("by hand") and operari ("to work"). The Latin word's earliest record, in the sense "chore, manual task", is in the Capitularies of Charlemagne around AD 800; it was probably a part-by-part rendering of Frankish *handwerc ("hand-work"), built like Old English handweorc and German Handwerk.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/manoeuvre (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).