| 释义 |
▪ I. amain, adv.|əˈmeɪn|
Also 6–7 amayn(e, amaine.
[f. a prep.1 in, on, at + main, OE. mæᵹn, power, force. Apparently not preceded by an earlier full on mæᵹn, on main, but formed in 16th c. after words in a-, as afoot.]
1. lit. In, or with, full force; with main force, with all one's might; vehemently, violently.
1540Four P.P. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 375 God save the devil, quoth I, amain. 1556Abp. Parker Psalter xliv, As sheepe we see, to slaughter driven amayne. 1611Coryat Crudities 215 Two dayes after it rained amaine. 1678Bunyan Pilgr. i. 61 Apollyon therefore followed his work amain. 1743Wesley Wks. 1872 I. 417 The colliers..began shouting amain. 1829Hood E. Aram xviii, But when I touch'd the lifeless clay The blood gush'd out amain. 1841Longfellow Hesperus vii, Down came the storm, and smote amain the vessel.
b. In full force of numbers.
1601Holland Pliny (1634) I. 243 The Tunies to auoid it, goe alwaies amaine in whole flotes, toward the cape. 1663Flagellum, O. Cromwell (1672) 22 New-England, a receptacle of the Puritans, who flocked thither amain.
2. Hence, with reference to motion. At full speed.
1563B. Googe Eglogs (Arb) 82 He rounes amayne, to gase on Beauties cheare. 1587Holinshed Chron. I. 176/2 Then without respect of shame they fled amaine. 1636Heylin Hist. Sabbath 54 Laban..pursued after him amayn. 1640Bastwick Lord Bishops ix. I iiij b, The Tower of Babel went up a maine, till God confounded their worke. 1725Pope Odyss. xi. 150 But vengeance hastes amain. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. iii. ii, Here comes a third who is spurring amain.
b. Without delay, in all haste; at once.
1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 568 The gentlemen came and repaired to the garden amaine. 1821J. Baillie Met. Leg., Calum. xxvi. 11 Housewives left amain Their broken tasks.
† a main gallop: at full gallop. Obs. See main.
1553Brende Curtius ix. 57 Straightways the horsemen returned amaine gallop.
3. Exceedingly, greatly. (Cf. L. valde, f. valēre.)
1587Turberville Epit. & Sonn. (1837) 333 Who so doth runne a race, Shall surely sweate amaine. 1616Surflet Country Farm 541 Too much drinesse doth disaduantage the husbandman amaine. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 429 They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain. 1820Keats St. Agnes xxi, The maiden's chamber..Where Porphyro took covert, pleased amain.
▪ II. † aˈmain(e, v. Obs.
[a. Fr. amene-r to draw towards, in naval phr. amener pavillon, or absolutely amener, to strike flag, to surrender.]
1. trans. To lower (a sail, etc., esp. the topsail).
1593–1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 224 He called to us to amaine our sayles, which we could not well doe. 1627Smith Seaman's Gram., vii. 33 When you let anything downe into the Howle, lowering it by degrees, they say, Amaine; and being downe, Strike. Ibid. ix. 40 When you would lower a yard so fast as you can, they call Amaine.
2. fig. To lower, lessen, abate.
1578T. N. Conq. W. Ind. 257 They somewhat amayned their furie for their princes sake.
3. intr. To lower the topsail in sign of yielding; to yield.
1593–1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 33 Wished that the gunner might shoote at her, to cause her to amaine. 1628Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 77 Then the Swallow bad them ‘Amaine for the King of England!’ 1751Chambers Cycl., Amain, or Amayne, a sea term, used by a man of war, to his enemy; and signifying, yield. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. s.v., When we used to demand the salute in the narrow seas, the lowering of the topsail was called striking amain.
4. To conduct, guide. (A former sense of Fr. amener; cf. amenée, ‘action de conduire.’) rare.
1553in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. ii. xxi. 418 That his majesty may have..the ameyning of the matters. |
