amain

comparative more amain · superlative most amain · alternative amaine

1. archaicliteraryWith all of one's might; mightily; forcefully, violently.First known use 16th c.

   So likewiſe turnde the Prince vpon the Knight, / And layd at him amaine with all his will and might.

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 27, page 430

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   And in beholding how he [the cyclops Polyphemus] fed and belked vp againe / His bloody vittels at his mouth, and vttred out amayne / The clottred gobbets mixt with wyne, I [Odysseus] thus ſurmyſde: like lot / Hangs ouer my head now, and I muſt alſo go to pot.

   1567, Ovid, “The Fourteenth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 176, recto

   [T]hey bid vs amaine Engliſh dogs, and came vpon our quarter ſtar-boord: and giuing vs fiue caſt pieces out of her prowe, they ſought to lay vs aboord: but wee ſo galled them with our muſkets, that we put them from our quarter.

   1600, Richard Hakluyt, “A Relation of a Memorable Fight Made the 13. of Iune 1591. against Certaine Spanish Ships & Gallies in the West Indies, by 3. Ships of the Honorable Sir George Carey Knight, then Marshall of Her Maiesties Houshold, and Captaine of the Ile of Wight, now Lord Hunsdon, Lord Chamberlaine, and Captaine of the Honourable Band of Her Maiesties Pensioners”, in The Third and Last Volume of the Voyages, Nauigations, Traffiques, and Discoueries of the English Nation, […], 2nd edition, London: […] George Bishop, Ralfe Newberie, and Robert Barker, →OCLC, page 566

   For they both ſay and beleeue that this picture hath ſo great vertue, as alſo that of Padua, whereof I haue before ſpoken, that whenſoeuer it is carried abroad in a ſolemne proceſſion in the time of a great drougth, it will cauſe raine to deſcend from heauen either before it is brought backe into the Church, or very ſhortly after. […] I cannot be induced to attribute ſo much to the vertue of a picture, as the Venetians do, except I had ſeene ſome notable miracle wrought by the ſame. For it brought no drops at all with it: onely about two dayes after it rained (I muſt needes confeſſe) amaine. But I hope they are not ſo ſuperſtitious to aſcribe that to the vertue of the picture.

   1611, Thomas Coryate [i.e., Thomas Coryat], “My Obseruations of the Most Glorious, Peerelesse, and Mayden Citie of Venice: […]”, in Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobled Vp in Five Moneths Trauells […], London: […] W[illiam] S[tansby for the author], →OCLC, pages 214–215

   They on the Hill, which were not yet come to blows, perceaving the fewneſs of thir Enemies, came down amain; […]

   1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 75

   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.

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 42–43, lines 637–638

2. archaicAt full speed; also, in great haste.First known use 16th c.

   The heavy rain it hurries amain / And heaven and the hurricane.

   1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Chimes”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, stanza VII, page 314, lines 5–6

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   At length the Danes beeing aſſayled on eche ſide, both a front before, and on their backes behinde, oppreſſed as it were wyth multitude, they threwe downe theyr weapons and fled amain.

   1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Scotlande, […]”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, page 189, column 1

   [T]he Queene o'th Skie [i.e., Juno], / Whoſe watry Arch, and meſſenger, am I. / Bids thee leaue theſe, & with her ſoueraigne grace, / Here on this graſſe-plot, in this very place / To come, and ſport: here [i.e., her] Peacocks flye amaine: / Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertaine.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 14, column 2

   Now when he was got up to the top of the Hill, there came two Men running againſt him amain; the name of the one was Timorous, and of the other Miſtruſt. To whom Chriſtian ſaid, Sirs, what's the matter you run the wrong way?

   1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 44

   So that it was like a sweet home-coming to him to come on board his well-built ship and have her rowed amain out of Lookinghaven.

   1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 15

3. UKdialectalOut of control.

   The waggonway lay near the Windmill Hills and went down the north side of the hills to the Rivir Tine, and at the Coal steath [= staithe] Mathew Gray lived. I was about hauf way down the bank when thur was two Waggons Coming after me Amain [= broken loose and running away].

   1820s (date written), Anthony Errington, “Saving Men on the Waggonway”, in P. E. H. Hair, editor, Coals on Rails: Or The Reason of My Wrighting: The Autobiography of Anthony Errington, a Tyneside Colliery Waggon and Waggonway Wright, from His Birth in 1778 to around 1825 (Liverpool Historical Studies; no. 3), Liverpool: […] [F]or the Department of History, University of Liverpool [by] Liverpool University Press, published 1988, →ISBN, page 38

4. obsoleteExceedingly; overmuch.

   The herd approach'd; each guest, with busy brain, / Arriving at the portal, gaz'd amain, / And enter'd marveling: […]

   1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, part II, page 36

   1 more example

   Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand; / They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain, / While Virtue, Valour, Wiſdom ſit in want.

   1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 50–51, lines 429–431

present singular third person amains · participle present amaining · participle past amained · past amained

1. obsoletetransitivenauticalTo lower (the sail of a ship, particularly the topsail).
2. figurativelyobsoletetransitiveTo decrease or reduce (something).
3. intransitiveobsoletenauticalTo lower the topsail in token of surrender; to yield.