Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large open farm wagon.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Middle English form of gain.
  • noun A four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of goods, or for carrying corn, hay, etc.; a wagon or cart.
  • noun Same as Charles's Wain.
  • To carry; convey; fetch.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of goods, produce, etc.; a wagon.
  • noun obsolete A chariot.
  • noun (Astron.) See Charles's Wain, in the Vocabulary.
  • noun a cart rope.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic or literary A wagon; A four-wheeled cart for hauling loads, usually pulled by horses or oxen.
  • verb Common misspelling of wane.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun large open farm wagon
  • noun English writer (1925-1994)
  • noun a group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English wǣn, wægn; see wegh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English wæġn, from Proto-Germanic *wagnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-. Cognate with Danish/Norwegian vogn, Dutch wagen, German Wagen, Frisian wein, Swedish vagn. Compare wagon.

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Examples

  • Pleiads, on late-setting Bootes, and on the Bear — which men also call the wain, and which turns round and round where it is, facing Orion, and alone never dipping into the stream of

    The Odyssey 1900

  • Now on the wain was a tall, upright churn; as soon as Georgie had ended his speech, the lid of the churn began to clipper-clapper, and who should speak out of it but the boggart himself.

    Pepper & Salt or, Seasoning for Young Folk Howard Pyle 1882

  • Bootes, and on the Bear -- which men also call the wain, and which turns round and round where it is, facing Orion, and alone never dipping into the stream of Oceanus -- for Calypso had told him to keep this to his left.

    The Odyssey 750? BC-650? BC Homer 1868

  • The construct crashed off in pursuit, and Kyrtian scrambled out from under the "wain" to take shelter, not under, but behind yet another behemoth.

    Elvenborn Lackey, Mercedes 2002

  • The _bride-wain_, the wagon in which the bride was driven to her new home, gave its name to the weddings of any poor deserving couple, who drove a "wain" round the village, collecting small sums of money or articles of furniture towards their housekeeping.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various

  • The popularity may wain, but there seems to be a fervent core of fans that will gobble up whatever book or movie that showcases at least one shambling, moaning, brain-craving monster.

    Wish List Wednesday #40: Pontypool Changes Everything 2010

  • I can ge the proceduers one withour having to wain my turn or if someone is more necessary than another.

    Republicans raising cash to counter-program ABC Obama special 2009

  • By this time we were fully drenched as we walked through tall grasses that had colleted the clouds thoughout the day and the daylight was quickly begining to wain.

    Where did you spend your Christmas holiday?? « Peace Corps South Africa 2009

  • Oh my gawd …. “laughin in the wain” … “sittin in the gwass”.

    ABBA – as interpreted by little people – TAKE TWO « Bored Mommy 2009

  • The popularity may wain, but there seems to be a fervent core of fans that will gobble up whatever book or movie that showcases at least one shambling, moaning, brain-craving monster.

    Archive 2010-03-01 2010

Comments

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  • As everyone knows, two days before Philip issued the arrest warrant, and a month before it was carried out, a hay wain drawn by oxen left the precincts of the Temple for an unknown destination.

    --Umberto Eco, 1988, Foucault's Pendulum, p. 122

    September 29, 2008

  • As used in wainwright.

    September 30, 2008

  • From "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg" by Guy Davenport.

    January 19, 2010

  • When the sukebind weighs heavily on the wains. cold Comfort Farm.

    February 19, 2013