Main vs General - What's the difference?
main | general |
(label) Great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.
* (Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)
Principal; prime; chief; leading; of chief or principal importance.
* (John Tillotson) (1630-1694)
* , chapter=7
, title= *{{quote-book, year=1935, author=
, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5
, passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}
Principal or chief in size or extent; largest; consisting of the largest part; most important by reason or size or strength.
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Full; undivided; sheer (of strength, force etc.).
* 1817 , (Walter Scott), , XII:
(label) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
(label) Big; angry.
Very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.
* 1799 , Samuel Foote, The works of Samuel Foote :
* 1840 , Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Leigh Hunt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The dramatic works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan :
* Spenser
That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the gross; the bulk; the greater part.
* Francis Bacon
* 1858 , Humphrey Prideaux, James Talboys Wheeler, An historical connection of the Old and New Testaments :
* Francis Bacon
* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 90:
* 1624 , John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes (Meditation XVII):
* 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick :
* Dryden
A large pipe or cable providing utility service to a building or area, such as water main or electric main.
(label) The mainsail.
A hand or match in a game of dice.
A stake played for at dice.
* Shakespeare, The First Park of King Henry IV
The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
A match at cockfighting.
* Thackeray
A main-hamper, or fruit basket.
Including or involving every part or member of a given or implied entity, whole etc.; as opposed to (specific) or (particular).
* c. 1495 , (John Skelton), "Vppon a deedman's hed":
* 1842 , Douglas Jerrold, "Mr Peppersorn ‘At Home’", Cakes and Ale :
* 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.27:
* 2006 , Ruth Sutherland, "Invite public to the private equity party", The Observer , 15 Oct 06:
Applied to a person (as a postmodifier or a normal preceding adjective) to indicate supreme rank, in civil or military titles, and later in other terms; pre-eminent.
* 1865 , Edward Cust, Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years War , p. 527:
* 2002 , James Turner, Libertines and Radicals in Early Modern London , p. 122:
Prevalent or widespread among a given class or area; common, usual.
* 1817 , (Walter Scott), Rob Roy , IX:
* 2008 , John Patterson, "Home movies", The Guardian , 20 Dec 08:
Not limited in use or application; applicable to the whole or every member of a class or category.
* 1924 , Time , 17 Mar 1924:
* 2009 , Douglas P Zipes, Saturday Evening Post , vol. 281:1, p. 20:
Giving or consisting of only the most important aspects of something, ignoring minor details; indefinite.
* 1817 , (Walter Scott), Rob Roy , X:
* 2006 , Kevin Nance, "Ghosts of the White City", Chicago Sun-Times , 16 Jul 06:
* 2008 , Robert P Maloney, "The Quiet Carpenter", America , vol. 199:19, p. 18:
Not limited to a specific class; miscellaneous, concerned with all branches of a given subject or area.
* 1941 , (W Somerset Maugham), Up at the Villa , Vintage 2004, p. 24:
* 1947 , "Russian Catechism", Time , 20 Oct 1947:
* 2007 , Alan Cheuse, "A Little Death", Southern Review , vol. 43:3, p. 692:
:We have dealt with the generals ; now let us turn to the particulars.
(military ranks) A senior military title, originally designating the commander of an army and now a specific rank falling under field marshal (in the British army) and below general of the army or general of the air force in the US army and air forces.
A great strategist or tactician.
*1918 , (Rebecca West), The Return of the Soldier , Virago 2014, p. 16:
*:She flung at us as we sat down, ‘My general is sister to your second housemaid.’
A general anaesthetic; general anaesthesia.
To lead (soldiers) as a general
As nouns the difference between main and general
is that main is while general is general.main
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).Adjective
(-)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
George Goodchild
Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.
Derived terms
* main drag * main roadAdverb
(en adverb)Etymology 2
From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* (English Citations of "main")Derived terms
{{der3, (large pipe or cable) gas main, mains (qualifier), water main , in the main , main brace , main drag , maincrop , mainframe , mainland , mainline, main line , mainmast , mainplane , mainsail , mainsheet , mainspring , mainstreet, main street , maintop , maintopmast}}Etymology 3
; compare (manual).Noun
(en noun)- (Prior)
- (Thackeray)
- (Ainsworth)
Statistics
*Anagrams
*External links
* 1000 English basic words ----general
English
Alternative forms
* generall (chiefly archaic)Adjective
(en adjective)- It is generall / To be mortall: / I haue well espyde / No man may hym hyde / From Deth holow eyed [...].
- "Among us!" was the general shout, and Peppersorn sat frozen to his chair.
- Undoubtedly the age of the Antonines was much better than any later age until the Renaissance, from the point of view of the general happiness.
- One advantage of having profitable companies in Britain is that they pay large sums in corporate tax into the Exchequer, which in theory at least is used for the general good.
- For these successes he obtained the rank of Field-Marshal General .
- He becomes the chief chartered libertine, the whoremaster-general flourishing his "standard" over a female army [...].
- ‘I can't quite afford you the sympathy you expect upon this score,’ I replied; ‘the misfortune is so general , that it belongs to one half of the species [...].’
- The general opinion on Baz Luhrmann's overstuffed epic Australia seems to be that it throws in everything but the kitchen sink, and then tosses that in too, just to be sure.
- M. Venizelos went to Athens from Paris early last January in response to a general invitation from the Greek populace.
- Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a general term indicating a rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) coming from the top chambers of the heart - in essence, above (supra) the lower chamber (ventricular).
- As she thus spoke, the entrance of the servants with dinner cut off all conversation but that of a general nature.
- The quick answer is that the 1893 Exposition was simply so important -- "the greatest event in the history of the country since the Civil War," as Harper's put it that October -- but that feels too general .
- Given the scarcity of relevant historical detail in the New Testament, we are left with only a general outline about Joseph.
- There was a moment's pause. The Princess broke in with some casual remark and once more the conversation became general .
- Already in the primary school work is conducted for the purpose of equipping the pupils with those elements of general knowledge which are closely related to the military preparation of future warriors.
- His measured, springless walk was the walk of the skilled countryman as distinct from the desultory shamble of the general labourer [...].
Antonyms
* particular * specificDerived terms
* agent general * brigadier general * colonel general * generality * generally * generalisation, generalization * generalise, generalize * general anaesthetic * general knowledge * in general * lieutenant general * major generalNoun
(en noun)- Hannibal was one of the greatest generals of the ancient world.