Dictionary

bain en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /beɪn/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, beyn (“direct, prompt”), from Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favourable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”).

Meanings

1. (dialectal) Ready; willing.
2. (dialectal) Direct; near; short; gain.
   • That is the bainest way.
3. (dialectal) Limber; pliant; flexible.

Forms

bain en · ADV · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /beɪn/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, beyn (“direct, prompt”), from Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favourable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”).

Meanings

1. (dialectal) Readily; willingly.
2. (dialectal) Nearby; at hand.

Forms

Deriveds

bainly

bain en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /beɪn/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English bayne~baine, from Old French bain, from Latin baneum, variant of balneum. Doublet of bagnio, balaneion, and banya.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A bath.
   • THus was sir Tramtryst longe there wel cherysshed / with the kynge and the quene /[…]/ So vpon a daye / the quene and la beale Isoud made a bayne for syre Tramtryst / And whan he was in his bayne / the quene and Isoud her doughter romed vp & doune in the chamber / and there whyles Gouernail and Heles attendyd vpon Tramtryst 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book VIII:

Forms

bain en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /beɪn/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English bayne~baine, from Old French bain, from Latin baneum, variant of balneum. Doublet of bagnio, balaneion, and banya.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) To bathe.
   • Thomas Lodge, Rosalynde: Euphues' Golden Legacy, 2nd ed. (1592), Rosader's Second Sonetto, l. 9: "If so I bain me in the spring,/Even on the brink I hear him sing."

Forms