Definition of "main" []

• Most important; principal. See Synonyms at chief. (adjective)
• Exerted to the utmost; sheer: by main strength. (adjective)
• Nautical Connected to or located near the mainmast: a main skysail. (adjective)
• Grammar Of, relating to, or being the principal clause or verb of a complex sentence. (adjective)
• Obsolete Of or relating to a continuous area or stretch, as of land or water. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It may be the initial effect; very probably it is; but since the main function of the spermatozoon must be the introduction of germplasm from the male parent, it is too much for anyone to ask us to believe that its _main_ function is concerned with surface alteration."
• "The _main_ body of this barn stands on the ground, 100×50 feet, with eighteen-feet posts, and a broad, sheltering roof, of 40° pitch from a horizontal line, and truncated at the gables to the width of the main doors below."
• "NoSuchMethodError: main 运行时  Exception in thread \ "main\" java. lang."