rein

• IPA^(key): /ɹeɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Homophones: rain, reign

From Middle English rein, reyne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman reyne, from Old French resne (Modern French rêne), from Vulgar Latin *retina, from Classical Latin retineō (“to retain”), from re- + teneō.

rein (plural reins)

1. A strap or rope attached to a bridle or bit, used to control a horse, animal or young child.
2. (figuratively) An instrument or means of curbing, restraining, or governing.
   • Milton

     Let their eyes rove without rein.

• free rein
• take the reins

rein (third-person singular simple present reins, present participle reining, simple past and past participle reined)

1. To direct or stop a horse by using reins.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Chapman

     He mounts and reins his horse.

2. To restrain; to control; to check.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

     Being once chafed, he cannot / Be reined again to temperance.

• rein in

From Anglo-Norman reines, Middle French reins, and their source, Latin rēnēs.

rein (plural reins)

1. (now rare, archaic, chiefly in plural) A kidney.
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     a man subject to these like imaginations […] hath often the stone imaginarily, before he have it in his reines […].

   • 1611, King James Bible, Lamentations 3:13:

     He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

2. The inward impulses; the affections and passions, formerly supposed to be located in the area of the kidneys.
   • Bible, Proverbs xxiii. 16

     My reins rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

   • Bible, Revelation ii. 23

     I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.

• Erin, Rine, in re, rine

rein

1. (Timau) rain

• Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien.

From Middle Dutch reine, from Old Dutch reini, from Proto-Germanic *hrainiz.

• Audio

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rein (comparative reiner, superlative reinst)

1. (formal) clean, spotless
2. pure, sheer

• onrein

• erin, nier

rein

1. Instructive plural form of reki.

• Erin, erin

From Middle French rein, from Old French rein, from the plural reins, from Latin rēnes < rēn, from Proto-Italic *hrēn, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰren- (“an internal part of the body”).

• IPA^(key): /ʁɛ̃/

• audio

  (file)

rein m (plural reins)

1. (anatomy) kidney
2. (in the plural) small of the back, waist

• rénal
• rognon

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

• nier, rien

• IPA^(key): /ʁaɪn/
• Homophone: Rhein
• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n

From Old High German reini, from Proto-Germanic *hrainiz, from Proto-Indo-European *króy-n-is, from *krey- (“divide, sift”). Cognate with Old Saxon hreni, (Low German ren), Dutch rein, Old Norse hreinn (Swedish ren), Ancient Greek κρῑ́νω (krī́nō, “separate, decide, judge”), Old Irish criathar, English riddle (“sieve”).

rein (comparative reiner, superlative am reinsten)

1. pure, clear, plain
   • 2010, Der Spiegel, issue 24/2010, page 131:

     Natürlich ist eine Weltmeisterschaft kein reines Sportevent mehr, sie ist sicher auch ein bisschen Welt- und Entwicklungspolitik.

     Of course, a world championship is no longer a pure sports event, it surely is also a bit of world and development politics.

rein

1. purely

   Unsere Beziehung ist rein platonisch.

   Our relationship is purely platonic.

Contraction of herein (“in here”), or hinein (“in there”).

rein

1. (colloquial) inside, in here

   Er kommt jetzt rein. ― He's coming inside now.

2. (colloquial) inside, in there

   Er geht rein zu den andern. ― He's going inside to the other people.

The standard language distinguishes the meanings of hinein (“in there: away from the speaker”) and herein (“in here: towards the speaker”). Rein is used for both meanings.

• herein
• hinein

• hinaus
• heraus
• raus

From Old Norse rein, reina, from Proto-Germanic *rainō. Cognate with English rean, German Rain.

• IPA^(key): /ˈreiːn/
• Rhymes: -eiːn

rein f (genitive singular reinar, nominative plural reinar)

1. strip (of land)

• aðrein
• akrein
• frárein

• IPA^(key): [reːn]

From Old Irish rígan (“queen”), from Proto-Celtic *rīganī. Cognate to Irish ríon, Scottish Gaelic rìghinn, rìbhinn, Welsh rhiain.

rein f (genitive singular [please provide], plural [please provide])

1. queen, regina

• benrein

• benrein

From Old French rein.

rein m (plural reins)

1. (anatomy) kidney

• French: rein

From Old French rein, reins, from Latin rēn, rēnes.

rein m (plural reins)

1. (Jersey, anatomy) kidney

• rîngnon

• IPA^(key): /rejn/, [ɾæɪ̯n]
• Homophone: regn

From Old Norse hreinn

• ren

rein (neuter singular reint, definite singular and plural reine, comparative reinere, indefinite superlative reinest, definite superlative reineste)

1. clean
2. pure

From Old Norse hreinn

rein m (definite singular reinen, indefinite plural reiner, definite plural reinene)

1. a reindeer

• reinsdyr

• reinkalv

• “rein” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ræɪn/

From Old Norse hreinn

rein (neuter singular reint, definite singular and plural reine, comparative reinare, indefinite superlative reinast, definite superlative reinaste)

1. clean
2. pure

From Old Norse hreinn

rein m (definite singular reinen, indefinite plural reinar, definite plural reinane)

1. a reindeer, Rangifer tarandus
   • 1855, Ivar Aasen, Ervingen:

     […] renna i Kapp med Reinen, um Raasi er tung og vaat: Dat maa ein Galning vera, som so vil fara aat.

     To race against the reindeer, if the road is soggy and wet: It must be a madman who wants to act like that.

• reinsdyr

• reinkalv
• reinsbukk

• “rein” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

First attested in the plural as reins, from Latin rēnes, plural of the almost unused rēn.

• rain

rein m (oblique plural reinz, nominative singular reinz, nominative plural rein)

1. (anatomy) kidney
2. (in the plural, reins) small of the back, lower back

• Middle French: rein
  • French: rein
• Norman: rein
• Walloon: rino, rno, rin
• → English: rein

See rien

rein f (oblique plural reinz, nominative singular rein, nominative plural reinz)

1. Alternative form of rien

rein (plural reins)

1. rain

• lömib

From Old Frisian [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *regnaz.

• (Clay) IPA^(key): /rai̯n/
• (Wood) IPA^(key): /rɛi̯n/

rein c (no plural, diminutive reintsje)

1. rain

• reinbôge

• “rein (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011