Gain vs Mean - What's the difference?
gain | mean |
(obsolete) Straight, direct; near; short.
(obsolete) Suitable; convenient; ready.
(dialectal) Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
(dialectal) Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.
(obsolete) Straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.
(dialectal) Suitably; conveniently; dexterously; moderately.
(dialectal) Tolerably; fairly.
The act of gaining.
* Tennyson
What one gains, as a return on investment or dividend.
* Shakespeare
(electronics) The factor by which a signal is multiplied.
To acquire possession of what one did not have before.
* Bible, Matthew xvi. 26
* Alexander Pope
To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.
* Bible, Ezekiel xxii. 12
(dated) To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.
To increase.
* 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)
To be more likely to catch or overtake an individual.
To reach.
* 1907 , Jack London, The Iron Heel :
To draw into any interest or party; to win to one's side; to conciliate.
* Bible, Matthew xviii. 15
* Dryden
To put on weight.
(of a clock or watch) To run fast.
(architecture) A square or bevelled notch cut out of a girder, binding joist, or other timber which supports a floor beam, so as to receive the end of the floor beam.
To intend.
# (label) To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.
# (label) To have intentions of a given kind.
#
To convey meaning.
# (label) To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).
#* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
, page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist)
, title= # (label) Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify.
#*
(label) To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
(label) To result in; to bring about.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 19, author=Paul fletcher, work=BBC Sport
, title= *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (label) To be important (to).
(obsolete) Common; general.
Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.
Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
* Dryden
Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
* J. Philips
Niggardly; penurious; miserly; stingy.
Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating; small.
Selfish; acting without consideration of others; unkind.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=20 Causing or intending to cause intentional harm; bearing ill will towards another; cruel; malicious.
Powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging.
Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.
(informal, often, childish) Difficult, tricky.
Having the mean (see noun below ) as its value.
(obsolete) Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.
*, II.ii.2:
* Sir Philip Sidney
* Milton
* 1603 , John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , II.5:
* Coleridge
* Sir W. Hamilton
* 2011 , "Rival visions", The Economist , 14 Apr 2011:
(obsolete, in the singular) An intermediate step or intermediate steps.
* a.'' 1563 , Thomas Harding, "To the Reader", in ''The Works of John Jewel (1845 ed.)
* 1606 , The Trials of Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Rob. Keyes, Thomas Bates, and Sir Everard Digby, at Westminster, for High Treason, being Conspirators in the Gunpowder-Plot
* a.'' 1623 ,
Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
*
*
* 1875 , William Smith and Samuel Cheetham, editors, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities'', , volume 1, page 10, s.v. ''Accentus Ecclesiasticus ,
* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 147:
(statistics) The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms; the arithmetic mean.
(mathematics) Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.
* 1997 , Angus Deaton, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy ,
* 2002 , Clifford A. Pickover, The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge , Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521016780, page 246:
* 2003 , P. S. Bullen, Handbook of Means and Their Inequalities , Springer, ISBN 978-1-4020-1522-9, page 251:
(mathematics) Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2'' and ''3'' in ''1:2=3:6 .
* 1825 , John Farrar, translator, An Elementary Treatise on Arithmetic by Silvestre François Lacroix, third edition, page 102,
* 1999 , Dawn B. Sova, How to Solve Word Problems in Geometry , McGraw-Hill, ISBN 007134652X, page 85,
* 2007 , Carolyn C. Wheater, Homework Helpers: Geometry , Career Press, ISBN 1564147215, page 99,
To complain, lament.
To pity; to comfort.
* 1485 , Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur , Book XII:
As adjectives the difference between gain and mean
is that gain is (obsolete) straight, direct; near; short while mean is mid, central.As nouns the difference between gain and mean
is that gain is the act of gaining or gain can be (architecture) a square or bevelled notch cut out of a girder, binding joist, or other timber which supports a floor beam, so as to receive the end of the floor beam while mean is middle.As a preposition gain
is (obsolete) against.As an adverb gain
is (obsolete) straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.As a verb gain
is to acquire possession of what one did not have before.gain
English
Etymology 1
From dialectal English (m), (m), short for (m), . More at (l).Derived terms
* (l)Etymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), , from the adjective.Adjective
(en adjective)- the gainest way
Derived terms
* (l) * (l)Adverb
(en adverb)- gain quiet (= fairly/pretty quiet)
Etymology 3
From (etyl) (m), . The Middle English word was reinforced by (etyl) . Related to (l), (l).Noun
(en noun)- the lust of gain
- No pain, no gain .
- Everyone shall share in the gains .
Antonyms
* lossDerived terms
* autogain * gainful * gainsomeVerb
(en verb)- Looks like you've gained a new friend.
- What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
- For fame with toil we gain , but lose with ease.
- The sick man gains daily.
- Thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion.
- to gain''' a battle; to '''gain a case at law
- Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.
- I'm gaining (on you).
- gain ground
- to gain the top of a mountain
- Ernest laughed harshly and savagely when he had gained the street.
- If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
- to gratify the queen, and gain the court
- I've been gaining .
Etymology 4
Compare (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Anagrams
* (l) * (l) * (l), (l) ----mean
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Verb
A better waterworks, passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
- A term should be included if it's likely that someone would run across it and want to know what it means'. This in turn leads to the somewhat more formal guideline of including a term if it is '''attested''' and ' idiomatic .
Blackpool 1-2 West Ham, passage=It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.}}
It's a gas, passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
Synonyms
* (convey, signify, indicate ): convey, indicate, signify * (want or intend to convey ): imply, mean to say * (intend; plan on doing ): intend * (have conviction in what one says ): be serious * (have intentions of a some kind ): * (result in; bring about ): bring about, cause, lead to, result inEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) ((etyl) (m)).Adjective
(er)- a mean motive
- Can you imagine I so mean could prove, / To save my life by changing of my love?
- The Roman legions and great Caesar found / Our fathers no mean foes.
citation, passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.}}
Synonyms
* (causing or intending to cause intentional harm ): cruel, malicious, nasty, spiteful * See also * (acting without consideration of others ): selfish, unkind, vile, ignoble * (powerful ): damaging, fierce, harsh, strong * (accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with''): deft, skilful (''UK''), skillful (''US ), top-notch * (inferior''): cheap, grotty (slang), inferior, low-quality, naff (''UK slang ), rough and ready, shoddy, tacky (informal)Derived terms
* meandom * meanie * meanness * meanyEtymology 3
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m) ((etyl) (m)), . Cognate with (m).Adjective
(-)- I have declared in the causes what harm costiveness hath done in procuring this disease; if it be so noxious, the opposite must needs be good, or mean at least, as indeed it is […].
- being of middle age and a mean stature
- according to the fittest style of lofty, mean , or lowly
Derived terms
* mean distance * mean time * mean solar time * mean sunNoun
(wikipedia mean) (en noun)- To say truth, it is a meane full of uncertainty and danger.
- You may be able, by this mean , to review your own scientific acquirements.
- Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean .
- Mr Obama produced an only slightly less ambitious goal for deficit reduction than the House Republicans, albeit working from a more forgiving baseline: $4 trillion over 12 years compared to $4.4 trillion over 10 years. But the means by which he would achieve it are very different.
- Verily in this treatise this hath been mine only purpose; and the mean to bring the same to effect hath been such as whereby I studied to profit wholesomely, not to please delicately.
- That it was lawful and meritorious to kill and destroy the king, and all the said hereticks. — The mean to effect it, they concluded to be, that, 1. The king, the queen, the prince, the lords spiritual and temporal, the knights and burgoses of the parliament, should be blown up with powder. 2. That the whole royal issue male should be destroyed. S. That they would lake into their custody Elizabeth and Mary the king's daughters, and proclaim the lady Elizabeth queen. 4. That they should feign a Proclamation in the name of Elizabeth, in which no mention should be made of alteration of religion, nor that they were parties to the treason, until they had raised power to perform the same; and then to proclaim, all grievances in the kingdom should be reformed.
- Apply desperate physic: / We must not now use balsamum, but fire, / The smarting cupping-glass, for that's the mean / To purge infected blood, such blood as hers.
- It presents a sort of mean between speech and song, continually inclining towards the latter, never altogether leaving its hold on the former; it is speech, though always attuned speech, in passages of average interest and importance; it is song, though always distinct and articulate song, in passages demanding more fervid utterance.
- Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane , and Treble.
]World Bank Publications, ISBN 9780801852541, [http://books.google.com/books?id=5Lp_p6bLD2IC&pg=PA51&dq=mean page 51:
- Note that (1.41) is simply the probability-weighted mean without any explicit allowance for the stratification; each observation is weighted by its inflation factor and the total divided by the total of the inflation factors for the survey.
- Luckily, even though the arithmetic mean' is unusable, both the harmonic and geometric ' means settle to precise values as the amount of data increases.
- The generalized power means' include power '''means''', certain Gini '''means''', in particular the counter-harmonic ' means .
- ...if four numbers be in proportion, the product of the first and last, or of the two extremes, is equal to the product of the second and third, or of the two means .
- Using the means'-extremes property of proportions, you know that the product of the extremes equals the product of the '''means'''. The ratio ''t''/4 = 5/2 can be rewritten as ''t'':4 = 5:2, in which the extremes are ''t'' and 2, and the ' means are 4 and 5.
- In , the product of the means is , and the product of the extremes is . Both products are 54.
Hypernyms
* (statistics) measure of central tendency, measure of location, sample statisticCoordinate terms
* (statistics) median, modeSee also
* (statistics) spread, rangeDerived terms
* arithmetic mean * * Chisini mean * contraharmonic mean * generalised f -mean * generalized f -mean * geometric mean * harmonic mean * Heronian mean * * logarithmic mean * power mean * quadratic mean * quasi-arithmetic mean * root mean squareEtymology 4
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) ; see (l).Verb
- Anone he meaned hym, and wolde have had hym home unto his ermytage.