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• cain
  cain

  noun

  rent paid in kind, especially a percentage of a farm crop.
• Cain
  Cain

  noun

  (in the Bible) the first son of Adam and Eve, who murdered his brother Abel.

cain

¹ American  

[keyn] / keɪn /

Scot., kane

noun

Scot. and Irish English.

1. rent paid in kind, especially a percentage of a farm crop.

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Cain ² American  

[keyn] / keɪn /

noun

1. (in the Bible) the first son of Adam and Eve, who murdered his brother Abel.

2. a murderer.

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idioms

1. raise Cain,

   1. become angry or violent.

      He'll raise Cain when he finds out I lost his watch.

   2. to behave in a boisterous manner; cause a disturbance.

      The students raised Cain while the teacher was out.

Cain ³ American  

[keyn] / keɪn /

noun

1. James M., 1892–1977, U.S. novelist.

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Cain ¹ British  

/ keɪn /

noun

1. the first son of Adam and Eve, who killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:1–16)

2. 1. to cause a commotion

   2. to react or protest heatedly

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cain ² British  

/ keɪn /

noun

1. history (in Scotland and Ireland) payment in kind, usually farm produce paid as rent

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Cain More Idioms  

1. see raise Cain.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Cainitic
  adjective
• Cainism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of cain

Middle English ( Scots ) cane, from Scots Gaelic; compare Old Irish cáin “statute, law, rent”

Example Sentences

You ought to see him raising cain over his mask being lost.

From Jimmy Kirkland and the Plot for a Pennant by Fullerton, Hugh S.

"I were goin' to warn 'em an' holp 'em ef I cain."

From A Man for the Ages A Story of the Builders of Democracy by Adams, John Wolcott

Saergus the Young, also-- *     *     *     *     * Violated the cain he had adopted, For the vehement Dungalach.

From The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick Including the Life by Jocelin, Hitherto Unpublished in America, and His Extant Writings by O'Leary, James

A cain de feu, a sort of jacket, of blue satin, of a darker shade than the jupe, the small skirt of which is of the Hungarian form.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851 by Various

Cain, Kain, kān, n. in old Scots law, rent paid in kind, esp. in poultry, &c.—To pay the cain, to pay the penalty.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various