main
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: nautical
transport
Etymology: From Middle English mayn, main, maine, mæin, meyn, from main (noun) (see further at etymology 2); compare Old English mæġen (“strong, main, principal”) (used in combination) and Old Norse megn, megenn (“strong, main”).
The word is cognate with Old High German megīn (“strong, mighty”) (modern German Möge, Vermögen (“power, wealth”)), and also akin to Old English magan (“to be able to”). See also may.
Inflected forms:
Senses:
gloss: Of chief or leading importance; prime, principal.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: The main office is actually one of the smaller rooms.
Religion direct us rather to ſecure inward peace than outward eaſe, to be more careful to avoid everlaſting and intolerable torment than ſhort and light afflictions which are but for a moment; […] In a word, our main intereſt is to be as happy as we can, and as long as is poſſible; and if we be caſt into ſuch circumſtances, that we muſt be either in part and for a time or elſe wholly and always miſerable, the beſt wiſdom is to chuſe the greateſt and moſt laſting happiness, but the leaſt and ſhorteſt miſery.
With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.
By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.
gloss: Chief, most important, or principal in extent, size, or strength; consisting of the largest part.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: main timbers
main branch of a river
main body of an army
Not uninvented that, which thou aright / Beleivſt ſo main to our ſucceſs, I bring; […]
The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. […] It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber. Other liquids produced in the refining process, too unstable or smoky for lamplight, were burned or dumped.
gloss: Full, sheer, undivided.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
not-comparable
usually
examples: […] I shall never forget the diabolical sneer which writhed Rashleigh's wayward features, as I was forced from the apartment by the main strength of two of these youthful Titans.
Wounded and overthrown, the Britons continued their resistance, clung round the legs of the Norman steeds, and cumbered their advance; while their brethren, thrusting with pikes, proved every joint and crevice of the plate and mail, or grappling with the men-at-arms, strove to pull them from their horses by main force, or beat them down with their bills and Welch hooks.
gloss: Big; angry.
pos: adj
tags: dialectal
not-comparable
gloss: Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Great in size or degree; important, powerful, strong, vast.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
obsolete
examples: And now that Current with main Fury ran / (The Stop remov'd that did the Courſe defend) / Unto the full of Miſchief, that began / T' an univerſal Ruin to extend; […]
Derived words: drain the main vein
left main
Main Arm
main asteroid belt
main battle tank
main belt
main bitch
mainboard
mainboom
main building
mainchain
main chance
main character
main character syndrome
main clause
main contractor
main course
maincrop
main curtain
maindeck
main deck
main diagonal
main dish
main drag
main drape
main earth
main event
mainfall
main frame
mainframe
main gear
main group
main group element
main guard
main house
mainly
main man
main market
main meal
main memory
main menu
main page
mainpiece
mainpin
main pot
mainpriv
main rag
Main Ridge
main road
mainsail
main sequence
main-sequence
mainshaft
main sheet
mainshock
main signal
mainspace
mainspan
mainstage
main stage
Main Standard Time
mainstay
mainstem
mainstream
main thing
main verb
main wheel
nonmain
on main
Percy Main
Upper Main Arm
Translations: