amain

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈmeɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn

Adverb

amain (comparative more amain, superlative most amain)

1. (archaic) With full force; forcefully, violently. [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!

2. (archaic) At full speed; in great haste. [from 16th c.]
   • Holinshed

     They fled amain.

   • Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Chimes, VII, lines 5-6

     The heavy rain it hurries amain

     And heaven and the hurricane.

3. (Britain dialectal) Out of control.
   • 1790, Felling/Heworth, Errington:

     two waggons coming after me amain [...]

Verb

amain (third-person singular simple present amains, present participle amaining, simple past and past participle amained)

1. (nautical) To lower the topsail, in token of surrender; to yield.