Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: MAINS |
MAINSNoun1. The farm attached to a mansion house. |
Date "MAINS" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1599. (references) |
Note: Mains \Mains\, noun. [Scottish. See Manse.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The term mains usually refers to the domestic electrical power supply (as in "I've connected the appliance to the mains."). The term is not usually used in the US and Canada.See also power connector for a list of connectors and voltages etc. in various areas.
Other voltages in use in some countries: 115V, 120V, 127V, 230V.
- Australia and New Zealand: 230V, 50Hz AC
- Europe: 230V, 50Hz AC
- USA and Canada: 120V, 60Hz AC, and 220V 60Hz AC
- Japan: 100V, 50 or 60Hz
Following European voltage harmonization all electricity supply within the EU is now nominally 230V, +/- 10%. In practice this means that those countries (such as the UK) that previously supplied 240V continue to do so, and those that previously supplied 220V continue to do so. However equipment should be designed to accept any voltages within the specified range, and in practice most do so. Similarly, Australia has converted to 230V as the nominal standard, but 240V is within the allowable tolerance and "240 volt" spoken as "two-forty volt" remains an Australian English synonym for mains.
ANSI standard C84.1 and Canadian CAN3-C235 specify that the nominal voltage at the output should be 120V and allows a range of 114 - 126V. California deliberately runs in the voltage range 114-120V to reduce power consumption.
See also Three phase.
External links
- List of various countries voltage and plug types
- Diagrams of plugs
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mains."
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | Tout tenir dans tes mains (Humana; performing artist: Fabian) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Les Mille et une mains (1972) À pleines mains (1960) Les Mains nettes (1958) L' Athlète aux mains nues (1952) Les Mains sales (1951) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Il vous rend chaste et pure aux mains de votre époux / dessiné par St. Quentin, ancien pensionaire du Roy [sic] ; Malapeau, sculp. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Australia | This agreement is likely to benefit other rural towns as AGL rolls out gas mains. (references) |
Australia | The ISP negotiated an agreement to install fiber alongside the mains, which will now provide consumers with 100 mbit/sec access, free telephony between customers, and other services. (references) | |
Australia | For example, Cooma (NSW) will shortly have a fiber optic network, due to an agreement between their local ISP and Australian Gas Light Company (AGL), which is installing gas mains through out the town. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "MAINS" is generally used as a noun (common) -- approximately 93.53% of the time. "MAINS" is used about 911 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (common) | 93.53% | 852 | 8,285 |
| Noun (proper) | 4.17% | 38 | 55,818 |
| Noun (plural) | 2.3% | 21 | 76,261 |
| Total | 100.00% | 911 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "MAINS" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Mains | Last name | 1,000 | 11,829 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "MAINS": electric mains ♦ Ferranti mains ♦ mains antenna ♦ mains connection ♦ mains water supply. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "MAINS": mains-borne, mains-communications, mains-connecting, mains-data-line, mains-derived, mains-fed, mains-frequency, Mains-kirton, mains-operated, mains-powered, mains-pressure, mains-signalling, mains-type, mains-voltage. | |
Ending with "MAINS": all-mains. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "MAINS"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 扼要. (various references) | |
Czech | hlavní vedení. (various references) | |
Danish | lysnet. (various references) | |
Dutch | lichtnet (mains supply). (various references) | |
Finnish | käyttöjännitehäiriön hälytys (mains failure alarm), jakeluverkkohäiriön hälytys (mains failure alarm). (various references) | |
French | réseau. (various references) | |
German | netz (caul, grid, net, net bag, netting, network, omentum, rack, string bag, tissue, web), Hauptnetz. (various references) | |
Greek | κεραία ηλεκτρικού δίκτυου (mains antenna), συναγερμός βλάβης δικτύου (mains failure alarm). (various references) | |
Hungarian | közművi fővezeték (public supply mains). (various references) | |
Italian | rete di fornitura dell'energia elettrica, luce ed elettricit . (various references) | |
Korean | " (keynote). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ainsmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | rede (grid, lace, netting, network, snood, television network, toil, toils, tv network). (various references) | |
Russian | элек)магистраль. (various references) | |
Spanish | red eléctrica (grid circuit), red (grid, kiddle, net, netting, network, sweep net, web). (various references) | |
Swedish | nätlarm (mains failure alarm), nätansluten (mains-operated), elnät (electric mains). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "MAINS": mainsail, mainsails, mainsheet, mainsheets, mainspring, mainsprings, mainstay, mainstays, mainstream, mainstreamed, mainstreaming, mainstreams. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "MAINS": cremains, domains, legerdemains, mortmains, pearmains, ptomains, remains. (additional references) | |
Words containing "MAINS": nonmainstream. (additional references) | |
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"MAINS" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ains, amans, aminos, amins, aminus, amons, jains, kains, Maciunas, maenas, maenus, Maenz, magians, Maginess, magint, Mahina, mahis, maias, maies, maines, maing, Maino, maint, Mainy, maion, mairs, mais, maius, makink, Malinski, mamina, maminst, manics, manip, manis, Manix, manz, Mariinsk, marinvs, marnes, mavins, mawine, maxint, mayings, mayne, Maynes, mcans, Meakins, Meigs, Meijs, meines, meins, meis, menis, mians, mions, mirins, moines, moins, moniz, moyens, muis, munis, nains, Narins, yains. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "MAINS" (pronounced mā"nz) |
| 4 | m ā" n z | domains, manes, remains. |
| 3 | -ā" n z | attains, constrains, contains, banes, brains, campaigns, canes, chains, champagnes, complains, cranes, disdains, drains, entertains, explains, gains, grains, Janes, lanes, maintains, obtains, pains, panes, pertains, plains, planes, rains, refrains, regains, reigns, reins, restrains, retains, sprains, stains, strains, sustains, terrains, trains, vanes, veins, wanes. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: amins, minas. | |
| Words within the letters "a-i-m-n-s" | |
-1 letter: aims, ains, amin, amis, anis, main, mans, mina, nims, sain, sima. | |
-2 letters: aim, ain, ais, ami, ani, ins, ism, man, mas, mis, nam, nim, sim, sin. | |
-3 letters: ai, am, an, as, in, is, ma, mi, na, si. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-i-m-n-s" | |
+1 letter: amines, amnios, animas, animes, animis, animus, gamins, inarms, inseam, jasmin, kamsin, limans, manias, manics, mantis, matins, mavins, mesian, nanism, nizams, saimin, semina, simian. | |
+2 letters: alumins, amidins, ammines, amnesia, amnesic, amnions, amusing, anemias, animals, animism, animist, anomies, anosmia, anosmic, armings, caimans, camions, cinemas, daimons, diamins, domains, enigmas, etamins, famines, firmans, gamines, gamings, haemins, harmins, impawns, inmates, inseams, intimas, jasmine, jasmins, kamsins, khamsin, kinemas, kinsman, laminas, lingams, magians, maidens, makings, maligns, malines, malison, malkins, maniacs, manilas, maniocs, manitos, manitus, mannish, mansion, mantids, manwise, margins, marinas, marines, marlins, martins, mashing, masking, masonic, massing, masting, matings, mattins, mayings, mayvins, meanies, medians, medinas, menials, minyans, mislain, misname, misplan, nanisms, narcism, onanism, paynims, pianism, pitmans, plasmin, remains, saimins, samisen, santimi, santims, seaming, seminal, seminar, shaming, shipman, siamang, sideman, simians, stamina, tameins, tsunami, uranism. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
