/əˈmeɪn/
OriginFrom a- (prefix with the sense ‘at; in; on; with’, used to show a state, condition, or manner) + main (“force, power, strength”). Main is derived from Middle English mayn (“strength”), from Old English mæġen (“strength”), from Proto-Germanic *maginą (“might, power, strength”), *maginaz (“strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”).
- archaic, literaryWith all of one's might; mightily; forcefully, violently.
“And in beholding how he [the cyclops Polyphemus] fed and belked vp againe
His bloody vittels at his mouth, and vttred out amayne
The clottred gobbets mixt with wyne, I [Odysseus] thus ſurmyſde: like”
“So likewiſe turnde the Prince vpon the Knight,
And layd at him amaine with all his will and might.”
“For they both ſay and beleeue that this picture hath ſo great vertue, as alſo that of Padua, whereof I haue before ſpoken, that whenſoeuer it is carried abroad in a ſolemne proceſſion in the time of a”
- archaicAt full speed; also, in great haste.
“At length the Danes beeing aſſayled on eche ſide, both a front before, and on their backes behinde, oppreſſed as it were wyth multitude, they threwe downe theyr weapons and fled amain.”
“[T]he Queene o'th Skie [i.e., Juno],
Whoſe watry Arch, and meſſenger, am I.
Bids thee leaue theſe, & with her ſoueraigne grace,
Here on this graſſe-plot, in this very place
To come, and ſport: her”
“Now when he was got up to the top of the Hill, there came two Men running againſt him amain; the name of the one was Timorous, and of the other Miſtruſt. To whom Chriſtian ſaid, Sirs, what's the matte”
- British, dialectalOut of control.
“The waggonway lay near the Windmill Hills and went down the north side of the hills to the Rivir Tine, and at the Coal steath [= staithe] Mathew Gray lived. I was about hauf way down the bank when thu”
- obsoleteExceedingly; overmuch.
“Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand;
They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain,
While Virtue, Valour, Wiſdom ſit in want.”
“The herd approach'd; each guest, with busy brain,
Arriving at the portal, gaz'd amain,
And enter'd marveling: […]”
- obsolete, transitiveTo lower (the sail of a ship, particularly the topsail).
- figuratively, obsolete, transitiveTo decrease or reduce (something).
- intransitive, obsoleteTo lower the topsail in token of surrender; to yield.
Formsmore amain(comparative) · most amain(superlative) · amaine(alternative) · amains(present, singular, third-person) · amaining(participle, present) · amained(participle, past) · amained(past)