main

Less common meanings

5. 5
   game characternouncountable

   The primary character, account, or profile someone uses most, as opposed to secondary ones.

   He climbed the ranks by sticking with a single main all season.

   Choosing the right main can shape your whole strategy in ranked matches.

   UsagePaired with alt: my main and my alts, often with the game's name first.

   Oppositealt

   Note

   The word comes with a ready-made opposite, alt. A main is the character a player invests in and plays most, and alts are the extras kept alongside it. "My WoW main has reached level cap" shows the usual shape, with the game's name placed before the noun. The same main-and-alt pairing is also used for online accounts, where your main is the profile you use most.

6. 6
   play mostlyverbtransitive

   To mostly play a particular character, side, or set of equipment during a game.

   He mains a heavy tank because he prefers absorbing damage for the team.

   Players who main snipers tend to favor long sightlines.

   UsageTakes a direct object: main a tank, main a support character.

   Note

   Gamers use it with a direct object, and the object can be a character, a race or even a weapon, as in "maining the dagger and using the axe as a backup." Writing in 2017, Dave Smith still felt the need to explain "maining" to his readers. The verb travels with the noun for one's primary character: the character you main is your main. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Dave Smith wrote the cited explanation in 2017. en.wiktionary.org
   • Smith explicitly explained the gaming term "maining" to his readers. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   big sailnounabbreviationellipsis

   Short for mainsail: the principal and usually largest sail of a sailing vessel, set on the mainmast.

   We hoisted the main and set a course for the open water.

   The skipper eased the main to spill some of the wind.

   UsageWith sail-handling verbs: hoist the main, ease the main.

   Note

   On a catboat, which carries a single sail, the main is the only sail. On larger vessels it need not be the biggest sail. The deck keeps it from being mistaken for the poetic sea or a dinner course. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Some mast-aft rigs carry a single jib without a mainsail. Restrict the statement to single-sail catboats. en.wikipedia.org
   • The mainsail need not be a vessel's largest sail. en.wikipedia.org
8. 8
   inject drugsverbslangtransitiveabbreviationellipsis

   Short for mainline: to inject a drug, especially heroin, directly into a vein.

   "Once you start to main heroin, there's no going back," the former addict warned.

   He admitted he had begun to main heroin during that period.

   Note

   Drug slang clipped from mainline, and it takes a direct object the same way: to main heroin. It inflects as a regular verb: mains, maining, mained. The clipping carries only the injecting sense of mainline, not its broader ones such as eating voraciously or merging code into a project. Context matters, because the same forms mean something harmless in the gaming verb. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • The drug-slang verb main is shortened from mainline. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   open seanounliteraryuncountable

   The open ocean; the high seas, far from any coast.

   For weeks they drifted on the main with no land in sight.

   The fleet vanished into the main beyond the horizon.

   Similarocean, sea, deep

   Note

   Poetry kept this sense alive, almost always with the. Spenser's figure is "swimming in the maine", Dryden's Virgil has a man "strugling in the Main", and Burns's exile must "cross the main". Handel's Hercules sets the "swelling main" against "firm land". Be careful, because the same phrase can mean the mainland, the very opposite. Verbs like swim and cross show that water is meant. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • Spenser uses “swimming in the maine” in The Faerie Queene, Book II, Canto VI, stanza 17. upload.wikimedia.org
   • Dryden's translation of Virgil describes a man “strugling in the Main” in Aeneid Book V. en.wikisource.org
   • The departing speaker in Burns's “It Was A’ For Our Rightfu’ King” says he must “cross the main.” gutenberg.org
   • A chorus in Handel's Hercules juxtaposes “firm land” and “swelling main.” handelforever.com
   • Main also has the sense mainland. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    mightnounobsolete

    Physical strength or force, now used only in the phrase with might and main.

    The crew rowed with might and main against the rising tide.

    He heaved at the boulder with all his might and main.

    UsageToday found in the fixed pair might and main: with all his might and main.

    Note

    Here is the noun that the "chief" adjective grew from: Old English mæġen, "strength", from a Germanic word for power and an Indo-European root meaning "be able". On its own it is obsolete. Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) still has champions breaking on their foes "with such puissance and impetuous main". Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The adjective meaning 'chief' developed from the noun main. en.wiktionary.org
    • The noun descends from Old English mæġen, meaning 'strength'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Its Germanic ancestor meant power. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Germanic noun derives from an Indo-European root meaning 'be able'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books appeared in 1590. en.wikipedia.org
    • Book II, canto IX describes champions attacking their foes with the quoted force; the item's quotation modernizes spelling. archive.org
11. 11
    adjectivearchaic

    Full, sheer, and undivided; exerted with complete force, especially of physical strength.

    The sailors raised the anchor by main strength when the winch failed.

    Only main strength shifted the fallen beam from the doorway.

    Note

    Mostly it keeps company with one noun: main strength, force used whole and undivided. Walter Scott has a man forced from a room "by the main strength of two of these youthful Titans" in Rob Roy (1817). The use is archaic, so it suits period or deliberately old-fashioned prose. The main in might and main is a different word, the noun for force, not this adjective. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Walter Scott's Rob Roy contains the exact quoted wording describing a man being forced from a room; the narrator is Frank Osbaldistone. gutenberg.org
    • Rob Roy was first published in 1817. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
    • Main in might and main is the noun meaning force, rather than the adjective. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    very muchadverbdialectalBritish

    To a great degree; very much, exceedingly.

    He was main pleased with the day's work in the fields.

    The track up the hill was main rough after the winter.

    Similarvery, mighty, exceedingly

    Note

    A regional intensifier that goes straight before an adjective: main dry, main jolly, main hot. Samuel Foote and Sheridan put it in their characters' speech, and Stevenson uses it in Treasure Island, so on the page it reads as voice. Use it the same way, in dialogue or regional character, never as a neutral stand-in for very. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Samuel Foote uses “main dry” in Sucky's dialogue in The Knights. en.wiktionary.org
    • Richard Brinsley Sheridan uses “main jolly” in the second countryman's dialogue in The Camp. cpercy.artsci.utoronto.ca
    • Robert Louis Stevenson uses “main hot” in a pirate's dialogue in Treasure Island. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    adjectivedialectal

    Great or large in size or degree.

    "There's a main heap of firewood to split before the snow comes," he grumbled.

    There was a main crowd at the fair this year, the biggest anyone could remember.

    Similargreat, huge, big

    Note

    This regional meaning belongs to dialect speech, so in standard writing the word reads as a deliberate voice, suited to a character's dialogue or a regional setting. It stays close to the word's roots in strength. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The word's etymological roots include the meaning “strength.” en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    the continentnounarchaicUS

    The mainland; the principal landmass, as distinct from surrounding islands.

    The settlers depended on the main for grain and timber.

    The higheſt land on the mayne, yet it was but low, we called Keales hill, and theſe vninhabited Iſles, Ruſſels Iſles.

    1624, Anthony Bagnall, Nathanaell Powell

    Note

    John Donne's line "No man is an Iland… a part of the maine" (1624) turns on this sense: a continent set against an island. In a work first published in 1629, Francis Bacon recalls the English invading "the main of Spain". Now archaic, it survives in US dialect. Read the surrounding verbs to keep it apart from the open sea. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • John Donne wrote the quoted words, using 'maine' for the continent contrasted with an island. en.wikipedia.org
    • The Donne passage was first published in 1624. en.wikisource.org
    • Francis Bacon recalls an English invasion using the words 'the main of Spain'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Bacon's Considerations Touching a War with Spain was written in 1624 but first published in 1629. celm.folger.edu
15. 15
    verbobsolete

    To upgrade a road into a main or primary route.

    The borough did not have an opportunity of conferring with the County Council, but the County Council requested particulars of district roads in the borough which the Council suggested should be mained.

    1927, The Municipal Journal and Public Works Engineer, volume XXXVI

    Note

    A word from local-government business. In 1927 The Municipal Journal reports a council naming the district roads it thought "should be mained", that is, taken up as main roads. The passive suits it, because a road is mained by an authority rather than by anyone in particular. The verb is obsolete. Today a road is upgraded or classified as a main road. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The verb belongs to local-government administration and means making a road a main road through an authority's decision. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Municipal Journal reported in 1927 that a council suggested district roads that 'should be mained'. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    dice roundnounobsolete

    A hand or match in a game of dice; a single round of play.

    Well-for the rest, will you throw a main?

    1894, Stanley J. Weyman, Under the Red Robe

    Note

    Where this gambling word comes from is uncertain. It is probably the adjective main put to new use, and a link to French main, "hand", has no support. Here it names the round itself, and the verb is throw, as in Stanley Weyman's Under the Red Robe (1894): "will you throw a main?" Keep it apart from the number called and the stake. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The gambling noun has an uncertain origin, probably from the adjective main; derivation from French main, meaning hand, lacks evidence. en.wiktionary.org
    • Main can denote the hand or round of dice play. en.wiktionary.org
    • Stanley Weyman wrote Under the Red Robe, first published in 1894. en.wikisource.org
    • The novel contains the quoted question and uses throw with main. gutenberg.org
17. 17
    called numbernounobsolete

    The largest throw in a dice match; in the game of hazard, a number from five to nine called out before the dice are thrown.

    The caster named his main and rattled the dice in the box.

    Euery man hath not beene brought vp in the knowledge of toungs. And it chanceth often to the reader, as it doth to diceplayers, that gaine more by the bye then by the maine.

    1598, Richard Barckley, “To the Reader”

    Note

    Thackeray's gambler in Pendennis boasts of a run of luck "with five for the main". In hazard, the caster names his number before the throw. Earlier, Richard Barckley (1598) contrasted the main with the bye, comparing readers to dice players who "gaine more by the bye then by the maine". The main was the chief chance, and the bye was a side one. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Thackeray's Pendennis contains this quotation, spoken by the gambler Sir Francis Clavering. gutenberg.org
    • In hazard, the caster specifies a main from five to nine before throwing. en.wikipedia.org
    • The Barckley passage is attributed to the 1598 first publication, distinguished from the 1603 revised edition. en.wiktionary.org
    • Barckley compares readers with dice players using the exact quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
    • The explanation interprets Barckley's contrast as one between principal and subsidiary chances. en.wikisource.org
18. 18
    dice stakenounobsolete

    A stake played for at dice; the sum wagered on a throw.

    [W]ere it good / To ſet the exact wealth of al our ſtates / Al at one caſt? to ſet ſo rich a maine / On the nice hazard of one doubtfull houre?

    c. 1597, [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth

    Note

    Shakespeare's Henry IV gives the sense its best setting: "to set so rich a maine / On the nice hazard of one doubtfull houre". To set is the gambler's verb for staking, and hazard doubles as the name of the dice game. The speaker is weighing whether to risk everything at a single cast. The word is obsolete, so it now belongs to reading rather than writing. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • William Shakespeare wrote Henry IV, Part 1, the play containing this passage. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
    • The quotation reproduces the wording and spelling of the passage in Henry IV, Part 1, Act 4, scene 1. en.wiktionary.org
    • Set can mean to stake or wager in gambling. en.wiktionary.org
    • Hazard is the name of a dice game. en.wikipedia.org
    • The speaker, Hotspur, considers the danger of committing all their resources to one outcome. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
19. 19
    rooster fightnounobsolete

    A sporting contest or match, especially one between fighting cocks.

    Note

    In cockfighting a main was fought, not played. In Thackeray's The History of Henry Esmond, a lord "would ride twenty miles to see a main fought", ranked among fairs and cudgelling matches as a country pastime. The sense is obsolete. Its origin is as uncertain as that of the dice round. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Fought is an attested verb for a cockfighting main. gutenberg.org
    • William Makepeace Thackeray wrote The History of Henry Esmond. gutenberg.org
    • The novel's narrator describes Lord Castlewood using the quoted words. gutenberg.org
    • The passage places cockfights alongside country fairs and cudgelling matches among the lord's amusements. gutenberg.org
    • The cockfighting and dice-match senses share an uncertain etymology. en.wiktionary.org
20. 20
    grape basketnounobsolete

    A basket used for gathering grapes at harvest.

    A main [hamper] Corbis vindemiatorius

    [1751, Robert Ainsworth, Samuel Patrick

    Note

    Robert Ainsworth's Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ Compendiarius (1736), in its 1751 edition, preserves it, rendering "a main [hamper]" as corbis vindemiatorius, a vintager's basket. Its origin is uncertain; it may come from French main, "hand", the derivation found wanting for the dice words. Rare and obsolete, it is a word to recognize in old texts, not one to use. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • Robert Ainsworth wrote Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ Compendiarius. books.google.com
    • The book first appeared in 1736. The cited 1751 text belongs to its third edition. en.wikisource.org
    • The 1751 edition renders “A main [hamper]” as “Corbis vindemiatorius”. en.wiktionary.org
    • This sense denotes a basket for gathering grapes. en.wiktionary.org
    • The basket word's origin is uncertain, with French main, meaning hand, suggested as a possibility. en.wiktionary.org
    • Evidence is lacking for deriving the dice words from French main. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    adjective

    Relating to or belonging to a ship's mainmast, its principal mast.
22. 22
    noun

    A banker's shovel used for scooping and gathering coins.