Dictionary
main
Pronunciation: (mān), [key]—
adj.
1. chief in size, extent, or importance; principal; leading:
the company's main office; the main features of a plan.
2. sheer; utmost, as strength or force:
to lift a stone by main force.
3. of or pertaining to a broad expanse:
main sea.
4. Gram.syntactically independent; capable of use in isolation. Cf.
dependent (def. 4),
independent (def. 14),
main clause.
5. Naut.
a. of or pertaining to a mainmast.
b. noting or pertaining to a sail, yard, boom, etc., or to any rigging belonging to a mainmast.
c. noting any stay running aft and upward to the head of a mainmast:
main topmast stay.
6. Obs.
a. having or exerting great strength or force; mighty.
b. having momentous or important results; significant.
—
n.
1. a principal pipe or duct in a system used to distribute water, gas, etc.
2. physical strength, power, or force:
to struggle with might and main.
3. the chief or principal part or point:
The main of their investments was lost during the war.
4. Literary.the open ocean; high sea:
the bounding main.
5. the mainland.
6. in the main, for the most part; chiefly:
In the main, the novel was dull reading.
—
adv.
South Midland U.S. (chiefly Appalachian). very; exceedingly:
The dogs treed a main big coon.
—
v.i., v.t.
Slang.mainline.
main
Pronunciation: (mān), [key]—
n.
a cockfighting match.
Main
Pronunciation: (mān; Ger. mīn), [key]—
n.
a river in central and W Germany, flowing W from the Bohemian Forest in N Bavaria into the Rhine at Mainz. 305 mi. (490 km) long.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
