amain
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /əˈmeɪn/
- Rhymes: -eɪn
Audio (UK) (file)
Alternative forms
- amaine (obsolete)
Adverb
amain (comparative more amain, superlative most amain)
- (literary) With all one's might; forcefully, violently; mightily. [from 16th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:
- So likewise turnde the Prince upon the Knight, / And layd at him amaine with all his will and might.
- 1670, John Milton, The History of Britain, that Part especially now called England; from the first traditional Beginning, continued to the Norman Conquest. Collected out of the antientest and best Authours thereof, The Second Book:
- They on the hill, which were not yet come to blows, perceiving the fewness of their enemies, came down amain.
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, lines 637–638, page 42:
- Under his ſpecial eie / Abſtemious I [Samson] grew up and thriv'd amain; / He led me on to mightieſt deeds / Above the nerve of mortal arm / Againſt the uncircumciſ'd, our enemies.
- 1793, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel, line 87:
- They spurred amain, their steeds were white:
- 1799, William Wordsworth, The Two-Part Prelude, Book I:
- Suspended by the blast which blew amain,
- Shouldering the naked crag, oh at that time,
- While on the perilous ridge I hung alone,
- With what strange utterance did the loud dry wind
- Blow through my ears!
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:
- (archaic) At full speed; in great haste. [from 16th c.]
- Holinshed
- They fled amain.
- 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
- Iris: […] her [Juno's] Peacocks flye amaine : […]
- Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Chimes, VII, lines 5-6:
- The heavy rain it hurries amain
- And heaven and the hurricane.
- Holinshed
- (archaic) Exceedingly; overmuch.
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, line 430, page 115:
- They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain, […]
-
- (Britain dialectal) Out of control.
- 1790, Felling/Heworth, Errington:
- two waggons coming after me amain […]
- 1790, Felling/Heworth, Errington:
Translations
in a forceful manner
See also
Norman
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Norse almanna (“for everyone”).
Tagalog
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