Late Middle English (as a verb in the sense 'cultivate (land')): from Anglo-Norman French mainoverer, Old French manouvrer (see manoeuvre). The noun sense dates from the mid 16th century.

• manoeuvre from mid 18th century:

  Soldiers, sailors, and farmers come together in the words manoeuvre and manure (Late Middle English), which share the Latin origin manu operari ‘to work with the hand’, from manus ‘hand’ (see manage, manner). The earliest sense of manoeuvre, which came from French in the mid 18th century, was ‘a planned movement of military or naval forces’. Old French gave us manure in the late Middle Ages. Then it had the senses ‘to cultivate land’ and ‘to administer or manage land or property’—the use for dung used on the land dates from the mid 16th century.