reins

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rein.

   The driver gathered up the reins and the two horses pulled the cart onto the road.

   After thirty years in charge, the founder finally handed the reins to his deputy.

   Note

   The plural is the form riders and drivers actually use, because a rein comes as a pair, one strap to each side, and they are gathered and spoken of together. The control meaning follows the same habit: a founder hands over the reins, not a rein. The spelling also serves as the verb's present-tense form (she reins the horse in), and a separate older noun, the old word for kidneys, lives alongside it.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of rein.

   The chair reins in the debate whenever it drifts toward personal attacks.

   The old mare reins well enough for a beginner to ride on the trail.

   Note

   In the restraining meaning the verb usually travels with in, placed before or after the object: the chair reins in the debate, she reins her temper in. Said of a horse that answers its rider, it takes no object at all, as when an old mare reins well. Without in, the guiding sense is mostly a rider's word.

3. 3
   nounarchaic

   The part of the body known as the loins.
4. 4
   noun

   In a vault, the parts between the crown and the spring or abutment, especially the loading or filling behind the shell.

   Restorers found that the rubble in the reins of the barrel vault had washed out over the centuries.

   The engineer recommended lightweight concrete to fill the reins without overloading the walls below.

   Note

   Builders use the word for the shoulders of a vault, the zone where the curve turns between its steep sides and its flatter crown. Masonry there tends to push outward under the weight above, so the space behind the shell is packed with fill, and that loading helps the arch keep its shape. Restorers check the reins when an old vault begins to sag.

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