gainer

From gain +‎ -er. Compare German Gegner (“opponent, adversary”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡeɪnə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡeɪnɚ/

• Audio (AU)

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gainer (plural gainers)

1. One who gains a profit or advantage.
   • 1892, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Noble Bachelor”, in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes‎, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2011:

     … it is obvious that the Californian heiress is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a British peeress.

   • M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated by Mahadev Desai, Part I, chapter xvi:

     I kept account of every farthing I spent, and my expenses were carefully calculated. Every little item such as omnibus fares or postage or a couple of coppers spent on newspapers, would be entered, and the balance struck every evening before going to bed. That habit has stayed with me ever since, and I know that as a result, though I have had to handle public funds amounting to lakhs, I have succeeded in exercising strict economy in their disbursement, and instead of outstanding debts have had invariably a surplus balance in respect of all the movements I have led. Let every youth take a leaf out of my book and make it a point to account for everything that comes into and goes out of his pocket, and like me he is sure to be a gainer in the end.

2. One who puts on weight.
3. (sports, slang) A diving or gymnastics maneuver, from a high diving board or platform, involving a simultaneous inversion and rotation.
   • 1961, Stanisław Lem, Return from the Stars, chapter 4:

     I tried a full gainer with a twist, the way he did it, but succeeded only in smacking the water with my thighs.

• weight gainer

• back gainer sports
• full gainer sports
• gain
• half gainer sports
• reverse gainer sports

• OED2

• Gearin, Reagin, Regina, anigre, earing, in gear, inrage, raigne, reagin, regain, regian

From gaine.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛne/

gainer

1. to cover, sheathe

• “gainer” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• graine, grainé, ignare, ingéra, régnai