manurance

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the cultivation, occupation, or working of land; archaic

   Years of careful manurance turned the neglected ground into productive fields.

2. 2
   noun

   the cultivation or training of the mind; obsolete

   The tutor regarded disciplined reading as a form of mental manurance.

From Middle English manouraunce, based on manouren, 'to cultivate, manage, or occupy,' plus -ance. The older verb manure concerned working and improving land before its modern fertilizer senses became dominant; manurance also developed a figurative sense of training the mind.

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