mana

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)Power, prestige; specifically, a form of supernatural energy in Polynesian religion that inheres in things or people.

   “They further required that a certain number of the old Chiefs should be liberally pensioned by the Government, and placed upon a footing of equality with European gentlemen of independent means, in consideration of their resigning their "mana" as Chiefs in favor of the new system […]”

   “The human tribe partakes of the mana or life-force of the animal, and is strengthened […]”

   “But in popular estimation their essential virtue derived from the personal mana of the sovereign.”

   “It can be seen, therefore, that mana is a nonvisible changing measure; it can remain static, increase, or decrease, depending on the actions or inaction of the recipient, and it can be enhanced or diminished.”

   “Among the Maori sovereignty was the result of mana—power based on hereditary rank and personal achievement. Manas could coexist and overlap, as they did in the medieval times in Europe.”

2. (uncountable, usually)Magical energy.

   “Mana is the name we give to the power behind magic.”

   “However, all such magik requires the mages [sic] own "MANA" or "internal power" to make it work. Without the mana, a spoken spell is just so much gibberish.”

   “Lands generate mana, which is required to cast spells.”

   “[…] Teleporting from an open room where there were a dozen black orcs firing bows […] landed me, low on mana and hitpoints, in a room full of gnome mages who instantly summoned four umber hulks and a xorn!”

   “Mana often grows in exponential proportion to population size, so as the population increases the player acquires vastly greater powers—a progression that god games share with spellcaster characters in role-playing games.”

3. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of mina (“ancient unit of weight or currency”).
4. (alt-of, alternative, uncountable)Alternative spelling of manna.