DictionaryAI

rein

RAYN/ɹeɪn/

Pluralreins

Verbreins, reining, reined

Often confused with reign

7 meanings of rein

Practice

  1. 1
    guiding strapnouncountable
    A long strap fastened to a bit or bridle, used by a rider or driver to guide and check a horse or other animal; also, a strap on a young child's harness.

    She gathered up the reins and urged the mare into a trot.

    The left rein had snapped, so he could steer the horse only to the right.

    UsageUsually plural: gather up the reins. Use a rein for a single strap or line.

    Note

    The same word covers the harness that keeps a toddler from running off.

  2. 2
    nounfigurativelycountable
    A means of curbing, restraining, or governing someone or something.

    The board kept a tight rein on spending throughout the merger.

    After the election she took the reins of the party.

    UsageSet phrases: keep a tight rein on, take the reins, give someone free rein (not incorrect: free reign).

    Similarcontrol, check, curb, restraint

    Note

    Milton's eyes that rove without rein in Paradise Lost (1667) show the old image.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  3. 3
    hold backverbtransitive
    To restrain something or keep it in check.

    The new manager promised to rein in costs before the end of the year.

    She spoke with barely reined fury about the months of delays.

    UsageUsually rein in: rein in costs, rein in a temper.

    Similarcurb, restrain, check, control, contain

    Oppositeunleash, release

    Note

    The bare form lives on mostly in the past participle, as in Shakespeare's Coriolanus, who cannot be reined again to temperance, or Jonathan Franzen's poorly reined sobs in The Corrections (2001). Barely reined fury keeps the picture of feeling straining against a hand.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Shakespeare's Coriolanus contains the cited wording about Coriolanus; Brutus speaks it in Act III, scene iii. shakespeare.mit.edu
    • The phrase 'poorly reined sobs' occurs in the narration of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Corrections was first published in 2001. openlibrary.org
  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To guide or stop a horse by means of the reins.

    She reined her horse to a stop at the edge of the creek.

    Barrel racers rein their mounts tightly around each barrel.

    UsageOften says where the horse ends up, reined to a stop; add in for slowing: rein in a horse.

    Similarguide, steer

    Note

    The verb takes the horse as its object, with the person holding the reins as subject. George Chapman's English Iliad already uses it this way: in Book V, Iris drives the wounded Venus to Olympus in Mars's chariot, reining the horses and whipping them on.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • George Chapman translated the Iliad into English. gutenberg.org
    • Book V depicts Iris conveying the wounded Venus in Mars's chariot. gutenberg.org
    • Chapman uses 'rein' transitively of the horses Iris drives to Olympus, urging them on with a scourge. gutenberg.org

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    obey the riderverbintransitive
    To obey the directions a rider gives through the reins.

    The young mare reins beautifully and stops on a dime.

    Ranch horses that rein well bring high prices at auction.

    Note

    Here the horse is the subject and nothing follows the verb: a horse reins well, or reins beautifully, when it answers the rider's hands readily. The phrase is a horseman's term of praise, at home in ranch work and in judging or selling horses, and it nearly always carries an adverb of quality.

  2. 6
    nounarchaic
    A person's inward impulses, affections and passions, once thought to be seated in the region of the kidneys.
    I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    My reins rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    Note

    Feelings were once thought to live in the kidneys, and the King James Bible of 1611 pairs reins with hearts: reins rejoice at right words, and God searches the reins and hearts together. Outside quotation and pastiche the idea is now put with heart, feelings or innermost self.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Feelings were formerly thought to be located in the kidneys. en.wiktionary.org
    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
    • The King James Bible pairs reins with hearts, describing God as examining both. en.wikisource.org
    • Proverbs 23:16 describes reins rejoicing when someone speaks right things. en.wikisource.org
    • The King James Bible describes God searching the heart and trying the reins together. en.wikisource.org
  3. 7
    kidneynounarchaic
    A kidney; used chiefly in the plural, for the kidneys.
    He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    Note

    A separate word that only looks like the strap a rider holds: it comes from Anglo-Norman reines and Latin rēnēs, "kidneys". Now archaic and almost always plural, it survives in older writing such as the King James Bible of 1611 and John Florio's Montaigne (1603), where a man imagines the stone before he has it in his reines. A modern writer simply says kidneys.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • The kidney word has a separate origin from the riding word, deriving from Anglo-Norman reines and Latin rēnēs. en.wiktionary.org
    • Latin rēnēs means kidneys. en.wiktionary.org
    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
    • The King James Bible contains the kidney word reins. en.wikisource.org
    • John Florio's English translation of Montaigne was first published in 1603. clarklibrary.ucla.edu
    • The passage describes a man imagining that he has the stone before it is actually in his kidneys. hyperessays.net

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of rein apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–5

Classical Latin retineō ("hold back"), made of re- and teneō ("keep, hold"), is the ultimate source. Early Medieval Latin retina came from it, then Anglo-Norman reyne, resne, and then Middle English rein, reyne. Compare modern French rêne. The word pushed out several native Old English words for a rein, including brīdel ("bridle, rein") and wealdleþer (literally "control strap").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

  • Classical Latin retineō, meaning "hold back", is the ultimate source of rein. en.wiktionary.org
  • Retineō is formed from re- and teneō, meaning "keep, hold". en.wiktionary.org
  • Early Medieval Latin retina derives from retineō. en.wiktionary.org
  • The transmission proceeds through Anglo-Norman reyne, resne to Middle English rein, reyne. en.wiktionary.org
  • Modern French rêne shares this origin. en.wiktionary.org
  • Rein displaced several native Old English words for a rein, including brīdel ("bridle, rein") and wealdleþer (literally "control strap"). en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 6–7

The word draws on Latin rēnēs and on its descendants, Anglo-Norman reines and Middle French reins. Ren is a doublet.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts