[man.i.ple] n [ME, fr. ML manipulus, fr. L, handful, fr. manus hand + -pulus (perh. akin to L plere to fill); fr. its having been orig. held in the hand--more at manual, full] (15c) 1: a long narrow strip of silk worn at mass over the left arm by clerics of or above the order of subdeacon
2. [L manipulus, fr. manipulus handful]: a subdivision of the Roman legion consisting of either 120 or 60 men