Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lead; conduct; manage.
- To lower (a sail), especially the topsail.
- To lower; abate.
- To lower the topsail or one's flag, in token of yielding; yield; surrender.
- With force, strength, or violence; violently; furiously; suddenly; at full speed; hastily.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb With might; with full force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly.
- adverb At full speed; in great haste; also, at once.
- intransitive verb (Naut.) To lower the topsail, in token of surrender; to yield.
- transitive verb (Naut.) To lower, as a sail, a yard, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb In a
forceful manner. - adverb At full
speed ; in greathaste . - adverb
Out of control . - verb nautical To
lower thetopsail , intoken ofsurrender ; toyield .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb with all your strength
- adverb at full speed; with great haste
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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His bloodhounds twain he called amain, and straightway gave her chase;
Rookwood William Harrison Ainsworth 1843
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Failure to amain, that is, to douse your topsail or dip your colours when you meet with a ship of war -- the marine equivalent for raising one's hat -- constituted a gross contempt of the king's service.
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Queen Pansie, as she might fairly have been styled, in reference to her position in the household, -- calling amain for grandpapa and breakfast.
The Dolliver Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne 1834
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Then they farewelled him and went down to look after the safety of their troops; and they ceased not to keep up the fires till the morning rose with its sheen and shone, when the fighting-men mounted their horses of noble strain and smote one another with thin-edged skean and with brawn of bill they thrust amain nor did they cease that day battle to darraign.
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Then the hosts charged down upon each other and clashed together the twain with a mighty strain, the brave pressed on amain and the coward to fly was fain and the Jinn cast flames of fire from their mouths, whilst the smoke of them rose up to the confines of the sky and the two armies appeared and disappeared.
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A sound as though a cork from a bottle burst amain!
Peer Gynt 2008
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A sound as though a cork from a bottle burst amain!
Peer Gynt 2008
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Then they slept till daybreak, when the battle-drums beat to fight and the swords in baldric were dight; and war-cries were cried amain and all mounted their horses of generous strain and drew out into the field, filling every wide place and hill and plain.
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By Glyn Davies, at Fri May 23, 10:37:00 PM glyn you are so right to get involved with this . its a disgrace that its not become amain issue for the regulaters. allpower to your elbow on it
Campaigning in Residential Homes Glyn Davies 2008
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Cleave fast to her thou lovest and let the envious rail amain, iv.
chained_bear commented on the word amain
"Amain, at once, suddenly; as, let go amain! i.e. let it run at once. This phrase is generally applied to any thing that is hoisted or lowered by a tackle, or complication of pullies.
"To lower amain, to lower at once, or let go the fall of the tackle.
To strike amain, to lower or let fall the topsail.
To wave amain, to make a sign to another vessel by waving a bright sword, or something else as a demand for striking its topsails."
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 9
October 13, 2008
qms commented on the word amain
The lexical drudge must explain
And make every mystery plain.
The job is to teach
The details of speech
And spew forth examples amain.
October 8, 2017