Almain
adj, name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A German. archaic, literary, poetic
"Caſ[ſio]. Is your Engliſh man ſo expert in his drinking? / Iag[o]. Why he drinkes you with facillity, your Dane dead drunke: he ſweats not to ouerthrow your Almaine; he giues your Hollander a vomit, ere the next pottle can be fild."
- 2 Alternative form of Almain (“type of dance”). alt-of, alternative
- 3 A kind of dance. See allemande.
- 1 German. archaic, historical
"Fauſtus theſe bookes thy wit and our experience / Shall make all nations to canonize vs, / As Indian Mooꝛes obey their Spaniſh Loꝛds, / So ſhall the ſubiects of euery element / Be alwaies ſeruiceable to vs thꝛée, / Like Lyons ſhall they guard vs when we pleaſe, / Like Almaine Rutters with their hoꝛſemens ſtaues, / Oꝛ Lapland Gyants trotting by our ſides, / Sometimes like women, oꝛ vnwedded maides, / Shadowing moꝛe beautie in their ayrie bꝛowes, / Then in their white bꝛeaſts of the queene of Loue: […]"
- 1 Germany. historical
"The x. of Awgust Maximilian emperowr of Almayne came to kynge Henry of England besyde Terwen, and there the emperowre had wages of the kynge."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The x. of Awgust Maximilian emperowr of Almayne came to kynge Henry of England besyde Terwen, and there the emperowre had wages of the kynge."
Etymology
From Middle English Alemaine, Almayne, from Anglo-Norman Allemaine, Almaine et al., Old French Alemaigne, from Late Latin Alamannia (“territory of the Alamanni tribe”), from Alemannī, Allemannī, of Germanic origin probably corresponding to all + men. Compare Alemannic.
Related phrases
More for "almain"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.