different between main vs drain

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: m?n, IPA^(key): /me?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n
• Homophones: mane, Maine

Etymology 1

From Middle English mayn, main, maine, mæin, meyn, from main (noun) (see further at etymology 2); compare Old English mægen- (“strong, main, principal”) (used in combination) and Old Norse megn, megenn (“strong, main”). The word is cognate with Old High German meg?n (“strong, mighty”) (modern German Möge, Vermögen (“power, wealth”)), and also akin to Old English magan (“to be able to”). See also may.

Adjective

main (not comparable)

1. Of chief or leading importance; prime, principal. [from 15th c.]
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Religion direct us rather to ?ecure inward peace than outward ea?e, to be more careful to avoid everla?ting and intolerable torment than ?hort and light afflictions which are but for a moment; […] In a word, our main intere?t is to be as happy as we can, and as long as is po??ible; and if we be ca?t into ?uch circum?tances, that we mu?t be either in part and for a time or el?e wholly and always mi?erable, the be?t wi?dom is to chu?e the greate?t and mo?t la?ting happiness, but the lea?t and ?horte?t mi?ery.
2. Chief, most important, or principal in extent, size, or strength; consisting of the largest part.

   Synonym: largest
3. (archaic, of force, strength, etc.) Full, sheer, undivided. [from 16th c.]
4. (dialectal) Big; angry.
5. (nautical) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
6. (obsolete) Great in size or degree; important, powerful, strong, vast.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

main (comparative more main, superlative most main)

1. (Britain, dialectal) Exceedingly, extremely, greatly, mightily, very, very much.

Verb

main (third-person singular simple present mains, present participle maining, simple past and past participle mained)

1. (transitive) Short for mainline (“to inject (a drug) directly into a vein”).
2. (transitive, gaming) To mainly play a specific character, or side, during a game.
3. (obsolete) To convert (a road) into a main or primary road.

Etymology 2

From Middle English mayn, main, maine, mæine, mæ?en, from Old English mæ?en (“strength”), from Proto-Germanic *magin? (“strength, power, might”), *maginaz (“strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *meg?- (“be able”). The word is cognate with Old High German magen, megin, Old Norse magn, megn, megin, Old Saxon megin. More recent senses are derived from the adjective.

Noun

main (plural mains)

1. That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the bulk, the greater part, gross.
   1. (video games) The primary character that one plays in a video game in which one can play more than one character.

      Antonym: alt

2. A large cable or pipe providing utility service to an area or a building, such as a water main or electric main. [from 17th c.]
3. (informal) Short for main course (“the principal dish of a meal”).

4. (now poetic) The high seas. [from 16th c.]
5. (now archaic, US dialectal) The mainland. [from 16th c.]
6. (nautical) Short for mainsail. [from 17th c.]
7. (obsolete, except in might and main) Force, power, strength, violent effort. [from 9th c.]

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain; probably from the adjective main. Evidence is lacking for a derivation from French main (“hand”).

Noun

main (plural mains)

1. (obsolete, gaming) A hand or match in a game of dice.
2. (obsolete, gaming) The largest throw in a match at dice; in the game of hazard, a number from one to nine called out by a person before the dice are thrown.
3. (obsolete, gaming) A stake played for at dice.
4. (obsolete, gaming, sports) A sporting contest or match, especially a cockfighting match.
5. A banker's shovel for coins.

Etymology 4

Origin uncertain, possibly from French main (“hand”).

Noun

main (plural mains)

1. (obsolete, rare) A basket for gathering grapes.

References

Further reading

• main (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Main (power) in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Amin, Iman, Mani, Mian, Mina, NAMI, NIMA, Naim, amin, iman, mani, mina

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

• moi (Luserna)

Etymology

From Middle High German m?n, form Old High German m?n, from Proto-West Germanic *m?n, from Proto-Germanic *m?naz (“my, mine”). Cognate with German mein, English mine.

Determiner

main (plural main, bon/dar maindarn) (Sette Comuni)

1. (attributive) my

2. (predicative) mine

Usage notes

The following rules apply to all Sette Comuni Cimbrian possessive determiners:

• They are inflected by number and gender in only exclamations (i.e. vocative case).
• Before nouns, they are inflected for number only and follow the corresponding definite article (a form of dar).
  • The plural ending is -en, or -? when the pronoun itself ends in -n.
• Predicatively, they are uninflected and the definite article is not used.
• Following bon (“of”) or dar (the only surviving trace of a genitive definite article; used for all numbers and genders) they end in -darn.

Inflection

See also

References

• “main” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin m?ne, from m?. Compare Romanian mine.

Pronoun

main

1. (first-person singular pronoun, oblique case) me

Related terms

• me
• ju

Finnish

Noun

main

1. Instructive plural form of maa.

See also

• jossain näillä main

Anagrams

• mani, mina, nami

French

Etymology

From Middle French main, Old French main, mein, man, from Latin manus (“hand”), from Proto-Italic *manus, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh?- (“to beckon”). Compare Spanish mano.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m??/
• Homophones: mains, maint, maints
• Hyphenation: main

Noun

main f (plural mains)

1. hand
2. (soccer) handball
3. (poker) hand

Synonyms

• louche
• mimine
• paluche
• pince

Meronyms

• doigt
• dos
• paume
• poignet
• pouce

Holonyms

• bras

Derived terms

Related terms

• manche
• manicle
• manier
• manipuler
• manivelle
• manuel

Descendants

• ? German: Lamäng

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• mina

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay main

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /main/
• Hyphenation: main

Verb

main (bermain)

1. to play

Derived terms

Further reading

• “main” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Kaiep

Noun

main

1. woman

Further reading

• Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)
• Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)

Malay

Etymology

A phonemical reduction from Pre-Malayic *q-um-ayam, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qayam.

Pronunciation

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /maen/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /ma?n/
• Rhymes: -aen, -en

Verb

main (Jawi spelling ?????, used in the form bermain)

1. to play

Derived terms

Descendants

• Indonesian: main

References

• "main" in Kamus Dewan, Fourth Edition, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, ?ISBN, 2005.
• “main” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Middle English

Noun

main

1. Alternative form of mayn

Adjective

main

1. Alternative form of mayn

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French main, mein, man, from Latin manus.

Noun

main f (plural mains)

1. (anatomy) hand

Descendants

• French: main

Norman

Alternative forms

• man (continental Normandy)
• môin (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French main, mein, man, from Latin manus (“hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *man-.

Pronunciation

Noun

main f (plural mains)

1. (Jersey, anatomy) hand

Derived terms

• brînge à main f (“brush”)
• marté à deux mains m (“sledgehammer”)

Related terms

• dé (“finger”)

Northern Sami

Pronoun

main

1. locative plural of mii

Old French

Alternative forms

• mein, man

Etymology

From Latin manus.

Noun

main f (oblique plural mainz, nominative singular main, nominative plural mainz)

1. (anatomy) hand

Descendants

• Middle French: main
  • French: main
• Norman: main
• Walloon: mwin

Welsh

Etymology

Cognate with Breton moan, Cornish moon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mai?n/

Adjective

main (feminine singular main, plural meinion, equative meined, comparative meinach, superlative meinaf)

1. slender, thin

   Synonym: tenau

2. fine

   Synonym: mân

Mutation

English

Alternative forms

• drein (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dreinen, from Old English dr?ahnian (“to drain, strain, filter”), from Proto-Germanic *drauhn?n? (“to strain, sieve”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, parched”). Akin to Old English dr?gian (“to dry up”), Old English dr?gaþ (“dryness, drought”), Old English dr??e (“dry”). More at dry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?e?n/, IPA^(key): /d??e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Noun

drain (plural drains)

1. (chiefly US, Canada) A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
2. (chiefly Britain) An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without going through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
3. Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.

4. (vulgar) An act of urination.
5. (electronics) One terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
6. (pinball) An outhole.
7. (Britain, slang, dated) A drink.
   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Three Detective Anecdotes

     When the play was over, we came out together, and I said, "We've been very companionable and agreeable, and perhaps you wouldn't object to a drain?"

   • 1966, Henry Mayhew, ?Peter Quennell, London's Underworld (page 48)

     What did she want with money, except now and then for a drain of white satin.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

drain (third-person singular simple present drains, present participle draining, simple past and past participle drained)

1. (intransitive) To lose liquid.

   The clogged sink drained slowly.

   • Knock knock.
     Who's there?
     Dwayne.
     Dwayne who?
     Drain the bathtub, I'm drowning.
2. (intransitive) To flow gradually.

   The water of low ground drains off.

3. (transitive, ergative) To cause liquid to flow out of.

   Please drain the sink. It's full of dirty water.

4. (transitive, ergative) To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.

   They had to drain the swampy land before the parking lot could be built.

5. (transitive) To deplete of energy or resources.

   The stress of this job is really draining me.

6. (transitive) To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
   • But it was not alone that he drained their treasure and hampered their industry.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To filter.
8. (intransitive, pinball) To fall off the bottom of the playfield.

Derived terms

• drainable
• drainage
• drain away
• draining (adjective)
• drain out
• drain the lizard (vulgar)
• drain the main vain

Descendants

• ? French: drainer (see there for further descendants)

Translations

Anagrams

• Darin, Drina, Indra, Nadir, Nardi, Ndari, Radin, dinar, nadir, ranid

Cimbrian

Numeral

drain

1. dative of drai