manavelins

English

Alternative forms

• minavilins, malhavelins, manablins, manarolins, manavalins, manavilins, manavlins, menavelings

Etymology

Unknown, probably related to manarvel (“To steal food or supplies from a ship's store”). Possibly related to minnow (“A relatively small and insignificant person or organization”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈnæv(ə)lɪnz/

Noun

manavelins pl (plural only)

1. (nautical slang) Odds and ends, leftovers, or scraps of food.
   • 1893, John Arthur Barry, Steve Brown's Bunyip: And Other Stories, page 34:

     A very good table was kept, and the dog-basket and 'menavelings' from it alone would have supplied the fo'c'stle twice over.

   • 1901, Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, page 512:

     For many of the maize farms where, by reason of the “menavelings” from the grain crop, it is possible to get good supplies of pig grain at little cost, such a system would be admirable.

   • 2011, V. Traven, Memoirs of a Dromomaniac, page 183:

     He efficiently loaded our bicycles and manavelins onto a waiting Volkswagen bus.

Related terms

• manarvel

References

• Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890) “menavelings”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume II (L–Z), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, page 50.
• “Menavelings” in [John Camden Hotten], The Slang Dictionary […], 5th edition, London: Chatto and Windus, 1874, page 224.