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Main   /meɪn/   Listen
adjective
Main  adj.  
1.
Very or extremely strong. (Obs.) "That current with main fury ran."
2.
Vast; huge. (Obs.) "The main abyss."
3.
Unqualified; absolute; entire; sheer. (Obs.) "It's a man untruth."
4.
Principal; chief; first in size, rank, importance, etc.; as, the main reason to go; the main proponent. "Our main interest is to be happy as we can."
5.
Important; necessary. (Obs.) "That which thou aright Believest so main to our success, I bring."
By main force, by mere force or sheer force; by violent effort; as, to subdue insurrection by main force. "That Maine which by main force Warwick did win."
By main strength, by sheer strength; as, to lift a heavy weight by main strength.
Main beam (Steam Engine), working beam.
Main boom (Naut.), the boom which extends the foot of the mainsail in a fore and aft vessel.
Main brace.
(a)
(Mech.) The brace which resists the chief strain. Cf. Counter brace.
(b)
(Naut.) The brace attached to the main yard.
Main center (Steam Engine), a shaft upon which a working beam or side lever swings.
Main chance. See under Chance.
Main couple (Arch.), the principal truss in a roof.
Main deck (Naut.), the deck next below the spar deck; the principal deck.
Main keel (Naut.), the principal or true keel of a vessel, as distinguished from the false keel.
Synonyms: Principal; chief; leading; cardinal; capital.


noun
main  n.  
1.
A hand or match at dice.
2.
A stake played for at dice. (Obs.)
3.
The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
4.
A match at cockfighting. "My lord would ride twenty miles... to see a main fought."
5.
A main-hamper. (Obs.)


Main  n.  
1.
Strength; force; might; violent effort. (Obs., except in certain phrases.) "There were in this battle of most might and main." "He 'gan advance, With huge force, and with importable main."
2.
The chief or principal part; the main or most important thing. (Obs., except in special uses.) "Resolved to rest upon the title of Lancaster as the main, and to use the other two... but as supporters."
3.
Specifically:
(a)
The great sea, as distinguished from an arm, bay, etc.; the high sea; the ocean. "Struggling in the main."
(b)
The continent, as distinguished from an island; the mainland. "Invaded the main of Spain."
(c)
Principal duct or pipe, as distinguished from lesser ones; esp. (Engin.), a principal pipe leading to or from a reservoir; as, a fire main.
Forcing main, the delivery pipe of a pump.
For the main, or In the main, for the most part; in the greatest part.
With might and main, or With all one's might and main, with all one's strength; with violent effort. "With might and main they chased the murderous fox."


adverb
Main  adv.  Very; extremely; as, main heavy. "I'm main dry." (Obs. or Low)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Main" Quotes from Famous Books



... our best, and our best was very much. When I think of the songs the minister sang; of the roars of laughter that went up from the lounging pirates when, sitting astride one of the main-deck guns, he made his voice call to them, now from the hold, now from the stern gallery, now from the masthead, now from the gilt sea maid upon the prow, I laugh too. Sometimes a space was cleared for him, and he played to them as to ...
— To Have and To Hold • Mary Johnston
... costume, the same display of heraldry, falconry, minstrelsy, scenery, monkery, witchery, devilry, robbery, poachery, piracy, fishery, gipsy-astrology, demonology, architecture, fortification, castrametation, navigation; the same running base of love and battle. The main difference is, that the one set of amusing fictions is told in music and action; the other in all the worst dialects of the English language. As to any sentence worth remembering, any moral or political truth, anything having a tendency, however ...
— Crotchet Castle • Thomas Love Peacock
... wheat, which she exchanged for manufactured goods in time of peace was no less interned than the manufactured products of Germany. If the Dardanelles were opened she could empty her granaries and receive arms and munitions in return. Therefore, the first winter of the war, while their main armies were intrenched in colder climes, both sides turned their attention to the southeast. In November the Turks had joined the Central Powers, thus flying in the face of the historical Turkish policy, so cleverly applied by Abdul Hamid, in playing one European power ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) - Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers • Various
... or feebleness of the bowels, liver, etc., or complaints growing out of them? Rather, take family statistics from broken-hearted parents! And yet, in general, those very parents who thus suffer more than words can tell, were the first and main transgressors, because they entailed those dyspeptic, heart, and other kindred affections so common among American parents upon their own children, and thereby almost as bad as killed them by inches; ...
— Searchlights on Health: Light on Dark Corners • B.G. Jefferis
... known that the doctrine of passive and absolute obedience, the main-spring of the Society of Jesus, is summed up in those terrible words of the dying Loyola: "Every member of the Order shall be, in the hands of his superiors, even as a corpse (Perinde ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue


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