Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The principal street of a small town.
- n. The inhabitants of small towns considered as a group.
- n. A place that represents narrowness of view and smug complacency.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A main thoroughfare, usually one in a small town having the largest concentration of retail businesses.
- n. The attitudes, environment, or life style of a small town; -- usually capitalized, and often used attributively.
WordNet 3.0
- n. street that serves as a principal thoroughfare for traffic in a town
- n. any small town (or the people who inhabit it); generally used to represent parochialism and materialism (after a novel by Sinclair Lewis)
Etymologies
- Sense 2, after Main Street, a novel by Sinclair Lewis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“On streets I had walked a thousand times—the historic main street of Mott, quiet, crooked Doyers, busy East Broadway—I try to slow down and see them anew.”
“One of the bands was from Dixon High School, and for a moment or two I had a vision of the school, the main street in Dixon, Lowell Park, the lush cliffs overlooking the Rock River.”
“MANY people looked, a few followed, when Edith Carr slowly came down the main street of Mackinac, pausing here and there to note the glow of colour in one small booth after another, overflowing with gay curios.”
“Playfully, down the main street toward Mercy Bay, through the grain store and the fabric shop, the girl scampered away from Angie.”
“Each had a huge production lot dominated by barn-like soundstages where the interior scenes of movies were shot, a make-believe New York City neighborhood, and a western town with false-fronted saloons and a dusty main street for exterior shots.”
“In May, Gouverneur Morris crashed the phaeton while driving too fast down the main street in Richmond—his earlier accident had failed to reform his reckless streak.”
“Shooter is DQed! shouted the range officer but made no step forward as the three beefy guards closed in behind Texas Red and the crowd parted in the thrust of the armed man and his armed bodyguards as they headed down the main street of the town of Cold Water, through the corridor of stunned competitors and fans.”
“The main street of Alet-les-Bains is the Avenue Nicolas Pavillon, named after its most famous bishop whose incumbency lasted from 1637 to 1677.”
“It was well after nine P.M. when Matt returned to his small rented bungalow just off the main street of Shawsburg, Maryland.”
“We had not traveled far down the main street of Dedham before Warthrop turned his horse down a narrow lane that wound through a dense stand of poplars, at the head of which a small, inconspicuous sign hung upon a rusting steel pike: MOTLEY HILL SANATORIUM.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘main street’.
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Joe the Plumber
Hilariously over-used political talking points, or slogans, labels, etc. Also humorous misspeak. Whatever you want to do with this please do, as long as your entry jogs a memory. Add away.
...team of maveriks, joe the plumber, pork barrel spending, that one, bridge to nowhere, lipstick, arab, nu-cu-lar, battleground states, i approved this m..., hockey mom, 3 am phone call and 165 more...
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the new economy
frightening
zombie banks, toxic asset, zombie bank, foreclosure, giant, bailout, mortgage, paycheck to paycheck, rent, stimulus, aig, market and 3 more...
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Word Chain
This was a game I heard about when I was a kid. Start with the phrase "word chain." Add a common 2- or 3-word phrase beginning with a word that rhymes with "chain." Add another 2- or 3-word phrase...
word chain, main street, sweet and low, slow food, mood ring, bling brothers, smothers with love, dove of peace, lease to own, bone white, night and day, pay the ferryman
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states of mind: from absurdistan to zion
Countries, lands, cities that capture, or haunt, our dreams. Some of the places listed might be the names of actual localities, but here they are states of mind.
absurdistan, banana republic, utopia, mitteleuropa, new jerusalem, deseret, canaan, zion, ruritania, outer slobovia, lower slobovia, avalon and 126 more...
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metaphorical places
canossa, waterloo, rubicon, eden, coventry, oz, gethsemane, calvary, serendip, the land of nod, between scylla an..., brigadoon and 77 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for main street.
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