Meaning

noun a military training exercise

noun a plan for attaining a particular goal

noun a deliberate coordinated movement requiring dexterity and skill

originFrom Middle French manœuvre (“manipulation, maneuver”) and manouvrer (“to maneuver”), from Old French manovre (“handwork, manual labor”), from Medieval Latin manopera, manuopera (“work done by hand, handwork”), from manu (“by hand”) + operari (“to work”). First recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne (800 AD) to mean "chore, manual task", probably as a calque of the Frankish *handuwerk…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0