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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Most important; principal. See Synonyms at chief.
  2. adj. Exerted to the utmost; sheer: by main strength.
  3. adj. Nautical Connected to or located near the mainmast: a main skysail.
  4. adj. Grammar Of, relating to, or being the principal clause or verb of a complex sentence.
  5. adj. Obsolete Of or relating to a continuous area or stretch, as of land or water.
  6. n. The chief or largest part: His ideas are, in the main, impractical.
  7. n. The principal pipe or conduit in a system for conveying water, gas, oil, or other utility.
  8. n. Physical strength: fought with might and main.
  9. n. A mainland.
  10. n. The open ocean.
  11. n. Nautical A mainsail.
  12. n. Nautical A mainmast.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Strength; force; violent effort: now used chiefly in the phrase with might and main.
  2. n. That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the gross; the bulk; the greater part.
  3. n. The principal point; that which is of most importance; the chief or principal object, aim, or effort.
  4. n. A broad expanse, as of space or light; unbroken extent; full sweep or stretch.
  5. n. Now, specifically
  6. n. The expanse of ocean; the open ocean; the high sea.
  7. n. A continental stretch of land; a continent; the maiuland, as distinguished from islands.
  8. n. A principal duct, channel, pipe, or electrical conductor, as a water- or gas-pipe running along a street in a town, or the largest conductor in a system of electric lights.
  9. n. The thick part of meat.
  10. Great in size or degree; vast; hence, strong; powerful; important.
  11. Principal; prime; chief; leading; of chief or principal importance: as, his main effort was to please.
  12. Principal or chief in size or extent; largest; consisting of the largest part; most important by reason of size or strength: as, the main timbers of a building; the main branch of a river; the main body of an army.
  13. Full; undivided; sheer: now used chiefly in the phrases main strength, main force.
  14. Nautical, belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
  15. “Big”; angry.
  16. Mightily; exceedingly; extremely.
  17. n. A hand.
  18. n. . A hand at dice; a throw of the dice at hazard.
  19. n. A match at cock-fighting.
  20. n. A banker's shovel for coin.
  21. To furl: said of sails.
  22. An obsolete variant of maim.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Principal, most important.
  2. n. Strength. [from 9th c.]
  3. n. The mainland. [from 16th c.]
  4. n. The high seas. [from 16th c.]
  5. n. A large pipe or cable providing utility service to a building or area, such as water main or electric main. [from 17th c.]
  6. n. The mainsail. [from 17th c.]
  7. n. hand (anatomy)

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A hand or match at dice.
  2. n. A stake played for at dice.
  3. n. The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
  4. n. A match at cockfighting.
  5. n. A main-hamper.
  6. n. Strength; force; might; violent effort.
  7. n. The chief or principal part; the main or most important thing.
  8. n. The great sea, as distinguished from an arm, bay, etc. ; the high sea; the ocean.
  9. n. The continent, as distinguished from an island; the mainland.
  10. n. principal duct or pipe, as distinguished from lesser ones; esp. (Engin.), a principal pipe leading to or from a reservoir.
  11. adj. Very or extremely strong.
  12. adj. Vast; huge.
  13. adj. Unqualified; absolute; entire; sheer.
  14. adj. Principal; chief; first in size, rank, importance, etc..
  15. adj. Important; necessary.
  16. adv. Very; extremely.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. any very large body of (salt) water
  2. adj. (of a clause) capable of standing syntactically alone as a complete sentence
  3. n. a principal pipe in a system that distributes water or gas or electricity or that collects sewage
  4. adj. of force; of the greatest possible intensity
  5. adj. most important element

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old English mægen, strength; see magh- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘main’.

Comments

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  • grandpa27 This comment placed in "billowy main"
    I found "billowy main" in On seeing the Elgin Marbles - Keats.
    "That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
    Wasting of old Time -- with a billowy main --
    A sun -- a shadow of a magnitude." Mar 31, 2011

  • ericsommer WorldStewards refers to a political party and social movement in which people take on formal obligations to work together to care for one another and the world; those who work for a world based on sharing and cooperation. Jul 20, 2009

  • Mary2 Not left out, because the dictionary you cite addresses this meaning (no. 9, a mainland). But couldn't help thinking that the famous John Donne passage would fit well in this mix.
    http://www.bartleby.com/73/134.html

    Like so many of my generation, I first encountered his words when I read Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Jun 27, 2009

  • sionnach The hand of a French person. Jan 9, 2008

‘main’ has been looked up 2174 times, loved by 1 person, added to 8 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 6.