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Main vs Sub - What's the difference?

main | sub |

As nouns the difference between main and sub

is that main is while sub is a submarine.

As a verb sub is

(us|informal) to substitute for or sub can be to coat with a layer of adhering material; to planarize by means of such a coating.

As a preposition sub is

under.

main

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).

Adjective

(-)
  • (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= 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.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , 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= 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.
  • 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.
  • Derived terms
    * main drag * main road

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • 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 :
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * 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.
  • 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)
  • A hand or match in a game of dice.
  • (Prior)
    (Thackeray)
  • 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.
  • (Ainsworth)

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    sub

    English

    Etymology 1

    Shortened form of any of various words beginning sub- , such as submarine, subroutine, substitute, subscription. The sandwich is so called because the bun's cylindrical shape resembles the shape of a submarine.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A submarine.
  • A submarine sandwich—a sandwich made on a long bun.
  • We can get subs at that deli.
  • (US, informal) A substitute.
  • With the score 4 to 1, they brought in subs .
    She worked as a sub until she got her teaching certificate.
  • (British, informal) A substitute in a football (soccer) game: someone who comes on in place of another player part way through the game.
  • * 1930 , Boy's Live, Philip Scruggs, There Can Be Victory , page 20
  • At any other school you would be playing varsity, and Wallace has you pigeon-holed on the subs'." "Maybe he has his reasons," Jim replied. "And he hasn't pigeon-holed me on the ' subs yet — not this season.
  • (British, informal, often in plural) Short for subscription: a payment made for membership of a club, etc.
  • (informal) A submissive in BDSM practices.
  • * 2004 , Paul Baker, Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang?
  • ...roleplay where a sub or bottom takes care of a top's bodily and hygiene needs...
  • * 2007 , Laurell K Hamilton, The Harlequin
  • "It means that I'm both a sub and a dom." "Submissive and dominant," I said. He nodded.
  • * 2008 , Lannie Rose, How to Change Your Sex
  • Typically a dom and a sub have a more or less standard routine that they like to go through all the time.
  • (Internet, informal) A subtitle.
  • I've just noticed a mistake in the subs for this film.
  • (computing, programming) A subroutine (sometimes one that does not return a value, as distinguished from a function, which does).
  • * 2002 , Nathan Patwardhan, Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Perl in a nutshell
  • The default accessor can be overridden by declaring a sub of the same name in the package.
  • * 2004 , P. K. McBride, Introductory Visual Basic.NET (page 49)
  • So far, all the subs and functions that we have used have been those built into the system, or those written to handle events from controls...
  • (colloquial, dated) A subordinate.
  • (colloquial, dated) A subaltern.
  • Synonyms
    * (submarine sandwich) grinder, hoagie
    Hypernyms
    * (submarine sandwich) sandwich

    Verb

    (subb)
  • (US, informal) To substitute for.
  • (US, informal) To work as a substitute teacher, especially in primary and secondary education.
  • (British, informal, football) To replace (a player) with a substitute.
  • He never really made a contribution to the match, so it was no surprise when he was subbed at half time.
  • (British, informal, football) Less commonly, and often as sub on , to bring on (a player) as a substitute.
  • ''He was subbed on half way through the second half, and scored within minutes.
  • (British) To perform the work of a subeditor or copy editor; to subedit.
  • (UK, slang, transitive) To lend.
  • * 2011 , Rowland Rivron, What the F*** Did I Do Last Night?
  • I kept up the pleasantries as we were drying our hands and, realizing I didn't have any change for the lodger, I asked him, one drummer to another like, if he could sub me a quid for the dish.
  • (slang) To subscribe.
  • (BDSM) To take a submissive role.
  • * Alicia White, Jessica's Breakdown (page 53)
  • You've never subbed before. Jessica will be expecting a man on stage that follows orders and enjoys what she's going to be doing. Do you want to be spanked? Possibly whipped?
  • * 2012 , Tiffany Reisz, Little Red Riding Crop
  • Wasn't like she'd never subbed before. She'd been a sub longer than she'd been a Dominatrix–ten years she'd spent in a collar.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) sub.

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Under.
  • Verb

  • To coat with a layer of adhering material; to planarize by means of such a coating.
  • (microscopy) To prepare (a slide) with an layer of transparent substance to support and/or fix the sample.
  • * 1997 , Marina A. Lynch, S. M. O'Mara (editors), Ali D. Hames, D. Rickwood (series editors), Neuroscience Labfax , page 166,
  • Ensure that gloves are worn when handling subbed' slides. Although the following protocol describes '''subbing with gelatin, slides may also be coated with either 3-(triethoxysilyl-)propylamine (TESPA) or poly-L-lysine for ''in situ hybridization.

    See also

    * switch (one who is willing to take either a sadistic or a masochistic role)

    Anagrams

    * * * ----