tain

[ teyn ]

/ teɪn /

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noun

a thin tin plate.

tin foil for the backs of mirrors.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of tain

1855–60; <French: silvering, foil, aphetic variant of étain tin

Words nearby tain

tailstock, tailwater, tail wheel, tailwind, Taimyr Peninsula, tain, Tainan, Taínaron, Taine, Taíno, taint

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tain in a sentence

Tavannes fort dominates the ground behind the Vaux-Souville line and the tain-Verdun road.
Verdun Argonne-Metz 1914-1918|Anonymous
Viollet-le-Duc used to consider the church of tain with its three naves one of the five noteworthy churches of the Meuse.
Verdun Argonne-Metz 1914-1918|Anonymous
Cour´tain, one of the swords of Ogier the Dane, made by Munifican.
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1|The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
See the glo-rious foun-tain flow; From the midst of heav'n pro-claim it, Oh, it makes me white as snow.
Birth of a Reformation|Andrew Byers

"She's done for," gleefully said the smuggler cap tain, as the next moment the lugger glided into the bay.
Ande Trembath|Matthew Stanley Kemp

British Dictionary definitions for tain

tain

/ (teɪn) /

noun

tinfoil used in backing mirrors

Word Origin for tain

from French, from étain tin, from Old French estain, from Latin stagnum alloy of silver and lead; see stannum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012