gain (1)

[Wel.gan=a mortise.] Joinery: 1. A mortise. 2. A beveled shoulder of a binding joist to strengthen the tenon. gain (2), *gaine, *gaghenn, *gayne, *gein, s . [Icel. gagn =gain, advantage; cogn. with Sw. gagn profit: Dan.gavn ; Fr.gain.] 1. Profit; anything gained or obtained as an advantage, or in return for labor or the employment of resources. "He is apt to denominate, however, his whole gain , profit, and thus confounds rent with profit, at least in common language."- Smith : Wealth of Nations, bk. i., ch. vi. 2. Interest, profit, emolument. "Small were his gains and hard his work." Tennyson: Sea Dreams, 8. 3. The act of gaining or acquiring; acquisition. "The double gain of happine ." Shakesp.: Richard III ., iv. 4. Crabb thus discriminates between gain , profit , emolument, and lucre: " Gain is here a general term, the other terms are specific: the gain is that which comes to a man; it is the fruit of his exertions, or agreeable to his wish: the profit is that which accrues from the thing. Emolument is a species of gain for labor, or a collateral gain . Gain and profit are also taken in an abstract sense; lucre is never used otherwise; but the latter always conveys a bad meaning." ( Crabb : Eng . Synon . ) 7. To make a profit of; to profit by. empty one to "If you have two ve els to fill, and you emp fill the other, you gain nothing by that."-Burnet: Theory of the Earth. *8. To produce as a profit; to earn. "Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds."-Luke xix. 16. *9. To profit, to advantage. "But for all this, whan that he seeth his time He held his pees, non other bote him gained ." Chaucer: Troilus , bk. i., 352. B. Intransitive: IMG:content-0272.png:[blocks in formation] over. "The English have not only gained upon the Venetians in the Levant, but have their cloth in Venice itself." Add is on : On Italy . (4) To obtain influence with; to gain over. "My good behavior had gained so far on the emperor, that I began to conceive hopes of liberty."- Swift . 3. To gain over : To win over or draw to any side, interest, party or view. 4. To gain time : To obtain an increase of time for any purpose. 5. To gain the wind: Naut.: To get to the windward side of another ship. For the difference between to gain and to get , see GFT.