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Main   /meɪn/   Listen
adjective
Main  adj.  
1.
Very or extremely strong. (Obs.) "That current with main fury ran."
2.
Vast; huge. (Obs.) "The main abyss."
3.
Unqualified; absolute; entire; sheer. (Obs.) "It's a man untruth."
4.
Principal; chief; first in size, rank, importance, etc.; as, the main reason to go; the main proponent. "Our main interest is to be happy as we can."
5.
Important; necessary. (Obs.) "That which thou aright Believest so main to our success, I bring."
By main force, by mere force or sheer force; by violent effort; as, to subdue insurrection by main force. "That Maine which by main force Warwick did win."
By main strength, by sheer strength; as, to lift a heavy weight by main strength.
Main beam (Steam Engine), working beam.
Main boom (Naut.), the boom which extends the foot of the mainsail in a fore and aft vessel.
Main brace.
(a)
(Mech.) The brace which resists the chief strain. Cf. Counter brace.
(b)
(Naut.) The brace attached to the main yard.
Main center (Steam Engine), a shaft upon which a working beam or side lever swings.
Main chance. See under Chance.
Main couple (Arch.), the principal truss in a roof.
Main deck (Naut.), the deck next below the spar deck; the principal deck.
Main keel (Naut.), the principal or true keel of a vessel, as distinguished from the false keel.
Synonyms: Principal; chief; leading; cardinal; capital.


noun
main  n.  
1.
A hand or match at dice.
2.
A stake played for at dice. (Obs.)
3.
The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
4.
A match at cockfighting. "My lord would ride twenty miles... to see a main fought."
5.
A main-hamper. (Obs.)


Main  n.  
1.
Strength; force; might; violent effort. (Obs., except in certain phrases.) "There were in this battle of most might and main." "He 'gan advance, With huge force, and with importable main."
2.
The chief or principal part; the main or most important thing. (Obs., except in special uses.) "Resolved to rest upon the title of Lancaster as the main, and to use the other two... but as supporters."
3.
Specifically:
(a)
The great sea, as distinguished from an arm, bay, etc.; the high sea; the ocean. "Struggling in the main."
(b)
The continent, as distinguished from an island; the mainland. "Invaded the main of Spain."
(c)
Principal duct or pipe, as distinguished from lesser ones; esp. (Engin.), a principal pipe leading to or from a reservoir; as, a fire main.
Forcing main, the delivery pipe of a pump.
For the main, or In the main, for the most part; in the greatest part.
With might and main, or With all one's might and main, with all one's strength; with violent effort. "With might and main they chased the murderous fox."


adverb
Main  adv.  Very; extremely; as, main heavy. "I'm main dry." (Obs. or Low)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Main" Quotes from Famous Books



... Harry's words, and the little detachment, returning at a gallop, joined the main troop, which was now close to a considerable ...
— The Star of Gettysburg - A Story of Southern High Tide • Joseph A. Altsheler
... founded the main event out of which this story springs, on a fact within my own knowledge. In afterwards shaping the course of the narrative thus suggested, I have guided it, as often as I could, where I knew by my own experience, or by experience related to me by others, that it would ...
— Basil • Wilkie Collins
... attacked twenty persons. Then an inspector came, and we were transferred at once to the open air, and placed in tents. Strangely enough, the wound in my remaining arm, which still suppurated, was seized with gangrene. The usual remedy, bromine, was used locally, but the main artery opened, was tied, bled again and again, and at last, as a final resort, the remaining arm was amputated at the shoulder-joint. Against all chances I recovered, to find myself a useless torso, more like some strange larval creature than anything of ...
— The Autobiography of a Quack And The Case Of George Dedlow • S. Weir Mitchell
... loose coal; and lastly, in the private carriage lay four big cans of common oil. And first, in the Laboratory, I connected a fuse-conductor with a huge tun of blasting-gelatine, and I set the fuse on the ground, timed for the midnight of the twelfth day thence; and after that I visited the Main Factory, the Carriage Department, the Ordnance Store Department, the Royal Artillery Barracks, and the Powder Magazines in the Marshes, traversing, as it seemed to me, miles of building; and in some I laid heaps of oil-saturated coal with an explosive in suitable spots on the ground-floor ...
— The Purple Cloud • M.P. Shiel
... sons, in the same way we want to join our voice to the voice of the people that from the bravo to the usumacinta praise and bless you, to take our share in the work for peace which you initiated during the Third Pan American Conference in Rio de Janeiro, which you continued by your visit to the main republics of South America, and which you are carrying to an end now by tokens of friendship you are giving to Mexico and the people of the state of Jalisco. The people of this state believe that the best way to take part in this labor is to tell you through me: "Welcome be the noble ...
— Latin America and the United States - Addresses by Elihu Root • Elihu Root


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