amain

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English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From a +‎ main (“strength, power, force”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

amain (comparative more amain, superlative most amain)

  1. (archaic) With full force; forcefully, violently. [from 16th c.]
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:
      So likewise turnde the Prince upon the Knight, / And layd at him amaine with all his will and might.
    • Milton
      They on the hill, which were not yet come to blows, perceiving the fewness of their enemies, came down amain.
    • 1793, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel, line 87
      They spurred amain, their steeds were white:
  2. (archaic) At full speed; in great haste. [from 16th c.]
    • Holinshed
      They fled amain.
    • Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Chimes, VII, lines 5-6
      The heavy rain it hurries amain
      And heaven and the hurricane.
  3. (UK dialectal) Out of control.
    • 1790, Felling/Heworth, Errington:
      two waggons coming after me amain [...]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

French amener.

Verb[edit]

amain (third-person singular simple present amains, present participle amaining, simple past and past participle amained)

  1. (nautical) To lower the topsail, in token of surrender; to yield.

Anagrams[edit]

Jèrriais[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse almanna (“for everyone”).

Adjective[edit]

amain m (feminine amaine, masculine plural amains, feminine plural amaines)

  1. of easy use
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