main: Meaning and Definition of

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:by main force. to lift a stone
  3. of or pertaining to a broad expanse: main sea.
  4. syntactically independent; capable of use in isolation. Cf.(def. 4),(def. 14),
  5. main topmast stay.
    1. of or pertaining to a mainmast.
    2. noting or pertaining to a sail, yard, boom, etc., or to any rigging belonging to a mainmast.
    3. noting any stay running aft and upward to the head of a mainmast:main topmast stay.
    1. having or exerting great strength or force; mighty.
    2. 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. the open ocean; high sea: the bounding main.
  5. the mainland.
  6. for the most part; chiefly: In the main, the novel was dull reading.
—adv.
  1. . very; exceedingly: The dogs treed a main big coon.
—v.i., v.t.
  1. mainline.

main

Pronunciation: (mān), [key]
— n.
  1. a cockfighting match.

Main

Pronunciation: (mān Ger. mīn), [key]
— n.
  1. 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.
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