main

Origin:
before 900; (noun) Middle English meyn, mayn strength, power, Old English mægen, cognate with Old Norse megin(n), megn strength; (adj.) Middle English mayn, partly < Old Norse megenn, megn strong, partly independent use of Old English mægen (noun) taken as an adj. in compounds, as in mægen-weorc, literally, work of might

Synonyms
1. cardinal, prime, paramount, primary, capital. 2. pure, direct. 7. conduit. 8. might.

Antonyms
1. secondary, least. 8. weakness.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a cockfighting match.

Origin:
1560–70; perhaps special use of main¹; compare main chance

noun

a river in central and W Germany, flowing W from the Bohemian Forest in N Bavaria into the Rhine at Mainz. 305 miles (490 km) long.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To main

Collins

World English Dictionary

main¹ (meɪn)

—*adj*
1.	chief or principal in rank, importance, size, etc
2.	sheer or utmost (esp in the phrase by main force)
3.	nautical of, relating to, or denoting any gear, such as a stay or sail, belonging to the mainmast
4.	obsolete significant or important

—n
5.	a principal pipe, conduit, duct, or line in a system used to distribute water, electricity, etc
6.	(plural)
	a. the main distribution network for water, gas, or electricity
	b. (as modifier): mains voltage
7.	the chief or most important part or consideration
8.	great strength or force (now chiefly in the phrase (with) might and main)
9.	literary the open ocean
10.	archaic short for Spanish Main
11.	archaic short for mainland
12.	in the main, for the main on the whole; for the most part

[C13: from Old English mægen strength]

main² (meɪn)

—n
1.	a throw of the dice in dice games
2.	a cockfighting contest
3.	a match in archery, boxing, etc

[C16: of unknown origin]

Main (meɪn, German main)

—n
	a river in central and W Germany, flowing west through Würzburg and Frankfurt to the Rhine. Length: about 515 km (320 miles)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

main

O.E. mægen (n.) "power, strength, force," from P.Gmc. *maginam- "power," from *mag- "be able, have power" (see may). Original sense preserved in phrase with might and main. Meaning "principal channel in a utility system" is first recorded 1727 in main drain; Used since

1548 for "continuous stretch of land or water."

main

early 13c., "large, bulky, strong," from O.E. mægen- "power, strength, force," used in compounds (see main (n.)), probably infl. by O.N. megenn (adj.) "strong, powerful." Sense of "chief" is c.1400. In Spanish Main the word is short for mainland and refers to the coast

between Panama and Orinoco. Main man "favorite male friend, hero" is from 1967, U.S. black slang.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

main definition

programming
The name of the subroutine called by the run-time system (RTS) when it executes a C program. The RTS passes the program's command-line arguments to main as a count and an array of pointers to strings. If the main subroutine returns then the program exits.
Java has inheritted the name "main" from C but in Java it's more complicated of course. The main routine must have a signature of exactly
public static void main(String [])
And it must be inside a public class with the same name as the source file where it is defined.
(2008-11-12)

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

main

In addition to the idioms beginning with main, also see eye to the main chance; in the main; might and main.