Dictionary

amain en · ADV · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /əˈmeɪn/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (UK) audio

Etymology

From 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”).

Meanings

1. (archaic, literary) With all of one's might; mightily; forcefully, violently.
   • The palfrey was as fleet as wind, And they rode furiously behind. They spurr'd amain, their steeds were white; And once we cross'd the shade of night. 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Christabel. Part I.”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 8:
   • So likewiſe turnde the Prince vpon the Knight, And layd at him amaine with all his will and might. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 27, page 430:
   • They on the Hill, which were not yet come to blows, perceaving the fewneſs of thir Enemies, came down amain; […] 1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 75:
   • Under his ſpecial eie Abſtemious I [Samson] grew up and thriv'd amain; He led me on to mightieſt deeds Above the nerve of mortal arm Againſt the uncircumciſ'd, our enemies. 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 42–43, lines 637–638:
   • But as the strange captain, leaning over the pallid bulwarks, was in the act of putting his trumpet to his mouth, it somehow fell from his hand into the sea; and the wind now rising amain, he in vain strove to make himself heard without it. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Albatross”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 263:
   • And rearing Lindis [a river] backward pressed Shook all her trembling bankes amaine; Then madly at the eygre's breast Flung uppe her weltring walls again. 1863, Jean Ingelow, “The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire. (1571.)”, in Poems, London: Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer, →OCLC, page 167:
   • 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 great drougth, it will cauſe raine to deſcend from heauen either before it is brought backe into the Church, or very ſhortly after. […] I cannot be induced to attribute ſo much to the vertue of a picture, as the Venetians do, except I had ſeene ſome notable miracle wrought by the ſame. For it brought no drops at all with it: onely about two dayes after it rained (I muſt needes confeſſe) amaine. But I hope they are not ſo ſuperſtitious to aſcribe that to the vertue of the picture. 1611, Thomas Coryate [i.e., Thomas Coryat], “My Obseruations of the Most Glorious, Peerelesse, and Mayden Citie of Venice: […]”, in Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobled Vp in Five Moneths Trauells […], London: […] W[illiam] S[tansby for the author], →OCLC, pages 214–215:
   • 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 lot Hangs ouer my head now, and I muſt alſo go to pot. 1567, Ovid, “The Fourteenth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 176, recto:
   • Oh! when I have hung Above the raven's nest, by knots of grass And half-inch fissures in the slippery rock But ill sustained, and almost (so it seemed) Suspended by the blast which blew amain, Shouldering the naked crag, oh at that time, While on the perilous ridge I hung alone, With what strange utterance did the loud dry wind Blow through my ears! 1799–1805 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book I. Introduction.—Childhood and School-time.”, in The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet’s Mind; an Autobiographical Poem, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, →OCLC, pages 16–17:
   • It [this book] ſhews too, who ſets out for life amain, As if the laſting Crown they would attain: Here alſo you may ſee the reaſon why They looſe their labour, and like Fools do die. 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:
2. (archaic) At full speed; also, in great haste.
   • 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 matter you run the wrong way? 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 44:
   • The heavy rain it hurries amain And heaven and the hurricane. 1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Chimes”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, stanza VII, page 314, lines 5–6:
   • [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: here [i.e., her] Peacocks flye amaine: Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertaine. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 14, column 2:
   • 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. 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Scotlande, […]”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, page 189, column 1:
   • So that it was like a sweet home-coming to him to come on board his well-built ship and have her rowed amain out of Lookinghaven. 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 15:
3. (UK, dialectal) Out 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 thur was two Waggons Coming after me Amain [= broken loose and running away]. 1820s (date written), Anthony Errington, “Saving Men on the Waggonway”, in P. E. H. Hair, editor, Coals on Rails: Or The Reason of My Wrighting: The Autobiography of Anthony Errington, a Tyneside Colliery Waggon and Waggonway Wright, from His Birth in 1778 to around 1825 (Liverpool Historical Studies; no. 3), Liverpool: […] [F]or the Department of History, University of Liverpool [by] Liverpool University Press, published 1988, →ISBN, page 38:
4. (obsolete) Exceedingly; overmuch.
   • Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand; They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain, While Virtue, Valour, Wiſdom ſit in want. 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 50–51, lines 429–431:
   • The herd approach'd; each guest, with busy brain, Arriving at the portal, gaz'd amain, And enter'd marveling: […] 1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, part II, page 36:

Forms

Relateds

mainly · main · might and main

Translations (8)

es a toda velocidad (at full speed) · es con todas sus fuerzas (with all of one’s might — see also mightily, forcefully) · ru на полной скорости (at full speed) · cs ze všech sil (with all of one’s might — see also mightily, forcefully) · ru си́льно (with all of one’s might — see also mightily, forcefully) · ru сломя голову (at full speed) · ru и́зо всех сил (with all of one’s might — see also mightily, forcefully) · ru бы́стро (at full speed)

amain en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /əˈmeɪn/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (UK) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish amainar (“to reef a sail (take in part of a sail to adapt its size to the force of the wind); to abate, die down, subside; to ease off, let up; of a person: to calm down, control one’s anger”); further etymology uncertain, probably from a regional Italian (Naples) word (compare Italian ammainare (“to lower or reef (a flag, sail, etc.)”)), from Vulgar Latin *invagīnare (“to sheathe (a sword); to put away, stow”), from Latin in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + vāgīna (“scabbard, sheath; covering, holder; vagina”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂ǵ- (“to cover; sheath”)); this would make it a doublet of invaginate.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, transitive) To lower (the sail of a ship, particularly the topsail).
2. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To decrease or reduce (something).
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To lower the topsail in token of surrender; to yield.

Forms