Might and main
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
Using all available physical strength, determination, and sustained effort to achieve something. Often sounds literary, humorous, or deliberately traditional today. Regional use: Middle English; now widespread but old-fashioned.
Origin
Might and main joins two words that both denoted power. Main descends from Old English maegen, strength or capacity, a sense now largely fossilized in this expression. The binomial itself belongs to Middle English: the Middle English Dictionary records main and might and might and main in texts composed around 1300 and copied in the early fourteenth century. The pair intensifies by near-synonymy; it does not contrast strength with a main or principal thing.
Research Sources
Variants
- With might and main
Usage Examples
- They pulled with might and main until the boat moved.
- The volunteers worked with might and main to reopen the hall.
- He argued with might and main against closing the library.