different between gain vs return

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English gayn, gain, gein (“profit, advantage”), from Old Norse gagn (“benefit, advantage, use”), from Proto-Germanic *gagn?, *gagan? (“gain, profit", literally "return”), from Proto-Germanic *gagana (“back, against, in return”), a reduplication of Proto-Germanic *ga- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“next to, at, with, along”). Cognate with Icelandic gagn (“gain, advantage, use”), Swedish gagn (“benefit, profit”), Danish gavn (“gain, profit, success”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gageigan, “to gain, profit”), Old Norse gegn (“ready”), dialectal Swedish gen (“useful, noteful”), Latin cum (“with”); see gain-, again, against. Compare also Middle English gaynen, geinen (“to be of use, profit, avail”), Icelandic and Swedish gagna (“to avail, help”), Danish gavne (“to benefit”).

The Middle English word was reinforced by Middle French gain (“gain, profit, advancement, cultivation”), from Old French gaaing, gaaigne, gaigne, a noun derivative of gaaignier (“to till, earn, win”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to pasture, graze, hunt for food”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waiþiz, *waiþ?, *waiþij? (“pasture, field, hunting ground”); compare Old High German weid?n, weidan?n (“to hunt, forage for food”) (Modern German Weide (“pasture”)), Old Norse veiða (“to catch, hunt”), Old English w?þan (“to hunt, chase, pursue”). Related to wathe, wide.

Verb

gain (third-person singular simple present gains, present participle gaining, simple past and past participle gained)

1. (transitive) To acquire possession of.

   Looks like you've gained a new friend.
2. (intransitive) To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.

   The sick man gains daily.
3. (transitive, dated) To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.

   to gain a battle; to gain a case at law

4. (transitive) To increase.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.

5. (intransitive) To be more likely to catch or overtake an individual.

   I'm gaining (on you).

   gain ground

6. (transitive) To reach.

   to gain the top of a mountain

   • 1907, Jack London, The Iron Heel:

     Ernest laughed harshly and savagely when he had gained the street.

7. To draw into any interest or party; to win to one's side; to conciliate.

   • If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

   • to gratify the queen, and gain the court

8. (intransitive) To put on weight.

   I've been gaining.

10. (of a clock or watch) To run fast.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

gain (countable and uncountable, plural gains)

1. The act of gaining; acquisition.
   • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, Maude

     the lust of gain, in the spirit of Cain

2. What is gained.
3. (electronics) The factor by which a signal is multiplied.
   • 1987, John Borwick, Sound recording practice (page 238)

     There follows the high and low-frequency replay equalization, which normally involves two adjustments with a further control allowing the replay gain to be set.

Antonyms

• loss

Derived terms

• autogain
• gainful
• gainsome
• gain-ground (game)

Translations

Etymology 2

From dialectal English gen, gin, short for again, agen (“against”); also Middle English gain, gayn, gein, ?æn (“against”), from Old English g?an, ge?n (“against”). More at against.

Preposition

gain

1. (obsolete) Against.

Derived terms

• gainful

Etymology 3

From Middle English gayn, gein, geyn (“straight, direct, short, fit, good”), from Old Norse gegn (“straight, direct, short, ready, serviceable, kindly”), from gegn (“opposite, against”, adverb) (whence gagna (“to go against, meet, suit, be meet”)); see below at gain. Adverb from Middle English gayn, gayne (“fitly, quickly”), from the adjective.

Adjective

gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)

1. (obsolete) Straight, direct; near; short.

   the gainest way

2. (obsolete) Suitable; convenient; ready.
3. (dialectal) Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
4. (dialectal) Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.

Translations

Derived terms

• gainly
• gainsome

Adverb

gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)

1. (obsolete) Straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.
2. (dialectal) Suitably; conveniently; dexterously; moderately.
3. (dialectal) Tolerably; fairly.

   gain quiet (= fairly/pretty quiet)

Etymology 4

Compare Welsh gan (“a mortise”).

Noun

gain (plural gains)

1. (architecture) A square or bevelled notch cut out of a girder, binding joist, or other timber which supports a floor beam, so as to receive the end of the floor beam.

Anagrams

• Agin, Agni, Angi, Gina, NGIA, Nagi, Ngai, a- -ing, ag'in, agin, gina, inga

Basque

Noun

gain

1. summit

French

Etymology

From Middle French gain, from Old French gaaing, from the verb gaaignier (“to earn, gain, seize, conquer by force”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to graze, forage, hunt”), from Proto-Germanic *waiþ? (“a hunt, pasture, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyh?- (“to seek, crave, hunt”). Cognate with Old High German weidan?n (“to hunt, chase”), German Weide (“pasture, pasturage”). Compare also related Old French gain (“harvest time, revival”), from Frankish *waida (“income, food, fodder”) (whence French regain), from the same Germanic source.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/

Noun

gain m (plural gains)

1. (usually in the plural) winnings, earnings, takings
2. (finance) gain, yield

Derived terms

• gain de cause
• gain du temps

Further reading

• “gain” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French gagner (“to gain”), compare Haitian Creole gen.

Verb

gain

1. to have

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old Norse gegn.

Adjective

gain

1. Alternative form of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”)

Etymology 2

From Old Norse gagn.

Noun

gain

1. Alternative form of gayn (“gain, reward, advantage”)

Etymology 3

From Old Norse gegna.

Verb

gain

1. Alternative form of gaynen

Etymology 4

From Old English ?e?n, gæ?n, from Proto-Germanic *gagin; also influenced by Old Norse gegn, from the same Proto-Germanic form. Doublet of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”).

Alternative forms

• gayn, gein, ?æn, ?ein, ?ean, gayne, gen, gan, gaine, geyn

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?n/, /?e?n/, /j?i?n/, /je?n/

Preposition

gain

2. against, next to, touching
3. (figuratively) against, opposed to, counter to, opposing (usually used in religious and spiritual contexts)
4. towards, to, nearing
5. (rare) on, on top of
6. (rare) facing, pointed towards

Descendants

• English: gain (obsolete)
• Scots: gain, gin

References

• “y??n, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

Adverb

gain

1. back (to), returning (to)

References

• “y??n, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

Middle French

Etymology

Old French gaaing.

Noun

gain m (plural gains)

1. income (financial)

Descendants

• French: gain

References

• gain on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ai?n/

Adjective

gain

1. Soft mutation of cain.

Mutation

English

Alternative forms

• returne (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English returnen, retornen, from Anglo-Norman returner, from Old French retourner, retorner, from Medieval Latin retornare (“to turn back”), from re- + tornare (“to turn”). Compare beturn.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???t??n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???t?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n
• Hyphenation: re?turn

Verb

return (third-person singular simple present returns, present participle returning, simple past and past participle returned)

1. (intransitive) To come or go back (to a place or person).
2. (intransitive) To go back in thought, narration, or argument.

3. (intransitive) To recur; to come again.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To turn back, retreat.

   • ‘I suppose here is none woll be glad to returne – and as for me,’ seyde Sir Cador, ‘I had lever dye this day that onys to turne my bak.’

5. (transitive, obsolete) To turn (something) round.

   • Whan Kyng Marke harde hym sey that worde, he returned his horse and abode by hym.

6. (transitive) To place or put back something where it had been.

7. (transitive) To give something back to its original holder or owner.

8. (transitive) To take back something to a vendor for a refund.

9. To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
10. (tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.

11. (card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.

12. (cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.
13. (transitive) To say in reply; to respond.
14. (intransitive, computing) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.
15. (transitive, computing) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.

16. (transitive, dated) To retort; to throw back.
17. (transitive) To report, or bring back and make known.

    to return the result of an election
18. (Britain, by extension) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.

Related terms

Translations

Noun

return (plural returns)

1. The act of returning.
2. A return ticket.

3. An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.

4. An answer.

5. An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.

6. Gain or loss from an investment.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     from the few hours we spend in prayer and the exercises of a pious life , the return is great and profitable
7. (taxation, finance) A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts. A tax return.

8. (computing) A carriage return character.
9. (computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.
10. (computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.
11. A return pipe, returning fluid to a boiler or other central plant (compare with flow pipe, which carries liquid away from central plant).

12. A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.
13. (American football) Catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.
14. (cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.
15. (architecture) The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.

Synonyms

• (the act of returning): gaincoming

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Turner, turner