Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A type of paper-thin tin plate.
- n. Tinfoil used as a backing for mirrors.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A thin plate; a tagger; tin-foil for mirrors.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Thin tin plate; also, tin foil for mirrors.
Etymologies
- Old English tein, teyne; compare Icelandic teinn a twig. (Wiktionary)
- French, alteration of étain, tin, from Late Latin stannum; see stannic. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The essence of Whacky Br*tain is that a knife is a tool for a form of free expression that is misunderstood by the population at large and the reactionary media, and police officers merely the nasty men and women who seek to deny Br*tain’s troubled youth that avenue for the inner self.”
“Also called the tain proper cell metabolism and tissue health. levels in blueberries are particularly high.”
“Yet 'tain't being dead -- it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;”
“Bo weevil told the farmer that "I 'tain't got ticket fare",”
“Jail house ain't no plaything, b'lieve me, 'tain't no lie”
“As for where you are moving-'tain't none of my bidnuss nohow!”
“Meanwhile, 'tain't fit night out for man nor beast.”
“I wish I had a home I could really call my own to ask you to, but 'tain't never been so I could.”
“But the Kuklos ought to train 'em better, you know; 'tain't natural not to stare when a lunatic cuts loose in public.”
“Even more nerve-racking was the sight of the moun'tain's cone-shaped summit rising steeply away to their left.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tain’.
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phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tyromancy, tyroma, tyroid, tyriasis, tyrannicide, typtology, typothetae, typomania, typography, typographia, typhonic, typhomania and 930 more...
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Unusual words for Words With Friends
A list of words that WWF recognizes as valid - most are unusual words; some are simply high-scoring.
botel, slipe, jeu, chub, chubs, cote, mure, tittle, dev, loo, hoke, helo and 357 more...
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Lessons of Wordie / Wordnik
Words and concepts I learned on Wordie, or happened upon as I roamed through dictionaries and websites seeking ammunition.
usquebaugh, baugh, plunderbunny, plinthiform, hendiatris, buckjumper, peripetia, trenchmore, antifogmatic, felon, whitlow, paronychia and 152 more...
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tez's Words
tain, curlicue, eidolon, exoteric, puissant, ragamuffin, insouciant, yarrow, taciturn, mundane, vomitorium, tenebre and 140 more...
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roseandivy's list
mooncalf, wonted, gibbet, artless, noontide, blithe, glitterati, vorpal, soporific, moxie, pilfer, betwixt and between and 263 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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zoesque's Words
avail, dissuade, delineate, chaparral, insinuate, tain, hubris, conglomerate, still, palely, loiter, whatevs and 68 more...
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new to me
stridulation, sherd, lees, lacustrine, coir, eruct, dysgenic, labile, glozening, entrainment, grawlix, maledicta balloon and 20 more...
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Her Majesty
tain, palanquin, infanta, bagman, canasta, arabesque, parapet, maidenhead, bosun, gunwale, quay, ply and 27 more...
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Mes mots
Mes mots preferes parmi tous les langages.
la grisaille, la grive, thrush, blanchâtre, rangily, wabi sabi, mono no aware, hirondelle, se jucher, une tignasse, jadis, toothsome and 61 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tain.
rolig Nice citation - and what a great word! It was new to me. Dec 22, 2008
knitandpurl "The sidewalks were gray and uneven, and the sky looked like a mirror without a tain, the place where everything should have been reflected but where, in the end, nothing was."
-"Meeting with Enrique Lihn" by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews, in the New Yorker, Dec 22 and 29, 2008, pp 80-81 Dec 22, 2008