Gainstrive

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To strive against; to resist, oppose. obsolete, transitive
  2. 2
    To resist; to fight back. intransitive, obsolete

    "For on the spoile of women he doth live, / Whose bodies chast, when ever in his powre / He may them catch unable to gainstrive, / He with his shamefull lust doth first deflowre, / And afterwardes themselves doth cruelly devoure."

Example

More examples

"For on the spoile of women he doth live, / Whose bodies chast, when ever in his powre / He may them catch unable to gainstrive, / He with his shamefull lust doth first deflowre, / And afterwardes themselves doth cruelly devoure."

Etymology

From gain- + strive.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.