Manifold, a.
Etymology: [AS. manigfeald. See Many, and Fold.]
1. Various in kind or quality; many in number; numerous; multiplied; complicated. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! Ps. civ. 24. I know your manifold transgressions. Amos v. 12.
2. Exhibited at divers times or in various ways; -- used to qualify nouns in the singular number. "The manifold wisdom of God." Eph. iii. 10. "The manifold grace of God." 1 Pet. iv. 10. Manifold writing, a process or method by which several copies, as of a letter, are simultaneously made, sheets of coloring paper being infolded with thin sheets of plain paper upon which the marks made by a stylus or a type-writer are transferred.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Manifold, n.
1. A copy of a writing made by the manifold process.
2. (Mech.)
A cylindrical pipe fitting, having a number of lateral outlets, for connecting one pipe with several others.
3. pl.
The third stomach of a ruminant animal. [Local, U.S.]
Manifold, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Manifolded; p. pr. & vb. n. Manifolding.]
To take copies of by the process of manifold writing; as, to manifold a letter.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for manifold; he lists it under complex.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.