regain

Formsregains, regaining, regained

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To get something back, or to recover possession of something that was lost.

   The team managed to regain the lead in the final minutes of the match.

   It took her months to regain the trust of her colleagues after the mistake.

   Similarrecover, resume, retrieve

   Oppositelose

   Note

   English borrowed the word whole from Middle French regaigner, yet it reads as plain re- plus gain, and that is how speakers hear it. It suits things that can slip away and be won back: the lead, momentum, trust. Resume once had this 'take back' meaning too, though that use is now archaic. For recovering what was lost, regain is the natural choice.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or process of getting something back, or of recovering possession of it.

   The regain of public trust required years of consistent and honest effort.

   Doctors carefully monitored the patient's steady regain of motor function.

   Similarrecovery, restoration, recapture

   Oppositeloss

   Note

   The noun is most at home in specialist talk. Writers on dieting speak of weight regain. Football analysts describe what happens after a regain, meaning the moment a team wins the ball back. Materials scientists record a regain in strength. Outside such fields recovery often sounds more natural, and none of these uses should be confused with the weaver's measurement.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The amount of width a woven cloth grows by when its fibers swell, used to determine which reed width to use in weaving.

   Experienced weavers calculate the regain before choosing a reed for the warp.

   Because cotton swells more than wool, its regain figure tends to be larger.

   Note

   Weavers and textile scientists use the word for what moisture does to fiber. Cloth widens as its fibers swell, so a mill must estimate the regain correctly before calculating the reed, or the finished width comes out wrong. The figure depends on fiber and conditions: wool's regain is lower at high humidities. Because fiber is priced by the pound, it has to be determined accurately.

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