The Collaborative International Dictionary
Manual \Man"u*al\ (m[a^]n"[-u]*al), a. [OE. manuel, F. manuel, L. manualis, fr. manus hand; prob. akin to AS. mund hand, protection, OHG. munt, G. m["u]ndel a ward, vormund guardian, Icel. mund hand. Cf. Emancipate, Legerdemain, Maintain, Manage, Manner, Manure, Mound a hill.]
Of or pertaining to the hand.
Performed by a person using physical as contrasted with mental effort; as, manual labor.
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Done or made by the hand. In some contexts, contrasted with automatic or mechanical. ``Manual and ocular examination.''
--Tatham.Manual exercise (Mil.) the exercise by which soldiers are taught the use of their muskets and other arms.
Seal manual, the impression of a seal worn on the hand as a ring.
Sign manual. See under Sign.
Wiktionary
n. (context military historical English) The military exercise by which soldiers are taught the use of their muskets and other arms.
Usage examples of "manual exercise".
Through the whole of the collegiate course, at the hours of recreation on certain days, all the students should be taught the manual exercise.
Five times that night did I put her through the manual exercise of love, and five times did she die away in the most ecstatic enjoyments, the pleasures of which she declared she had only known in imagination.
These all furnished themselves as soon as they could with arms, formed themselves into companies and regiments, chose their own officers, and met every week to be instructed in the manual exercise, and other parts of military discipline.
Now, reader, substitute for all these exclamation points, as many ringing thumps with a brawny fist upon the table, and you have some idea of the manual exercise that Dick went through while he thus spoke.