mains

• (British) IPA^(key): /meɪnz/
• Rhymes: -eɪnz

• Audio (Southern England):

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mains

1. plural of main

mains (uncountable)

1. (chiefly British) The domestic electrical power supply, especially as connected to a network or grid.

   I plugged it into the mains and it blew up!

   We don't have mains power out here, only a generator.

   mains electricity, mains voltage

2. The pipes of a centralized water supply that transport the water to individual buildings.
3. The main course of a meal.

• mains hum

• water main

mains

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of main

Related to manse.

mains (plural mains)

1. (Scotland) The farm attached to a mansion house.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     Though no minister would visit the Skerburnfoot, or, if he went, departed quicker than he came, the girl Ailie attended regular at the catechising at the mains of Sker.

• Davidson's Mains

• Concise Scots Dictionary, 2nd edition
• “mains”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

• Imans, M'sian, Mansi, Msian, Naims, Nasim, amins, imans, manis, minas, nsima

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: main, maint, maints
• Hyphenation: mains

mains f

1. plural of main

• minas

From Latin minus.

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

mains m (plural mains)

1. (Jersey, mathematics) minus sign