A manger is a feeding place within a stable, byre, or cowshed, usually holding hay or other fodder for animals. Its worn wood, straw, and association with daily care make it a humble agricultural object. In poetry, however, the manger carries exceptional Christian significance as the resting place of the infant Jesus in nativity tradition. It therefore unites poverty, animal shelter, nourishment, and sacred revelation. Outside religious verse, it may still suggest dependence, domestic order, or the quiet intimacy of tending livestock.

A manger is a trough that holds fodder for livestock within a stable, byre, or cowshed. Its practical function is feeding, but Christian nativity tradition gives it profound symbolic importance as a place where sacred life appears amid poverty and animals. Outside religious poetry, it may suggest care, dependence, hunger, or humble domestic order. Related terms include fodder, stable, stall, hay, livestock, crib, nativity, feeding trough, and byre.