gains


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Related to gains: Gains from Trade, Capital gains

gain 1

 (gān)
v. gained, gain·ing, gains
v.tr.
1. To come into possession or use of; acquire: gained a small fortune in real estate; gained vital information about the enemy's plans.
2. To attain in competition or struggle; win: gained a decisive victory; gained control of the company.
3. To obtain through effort or merit; achieve: gain recognition; gain a hearing for the proposal.
4. To secure as profit or reward; earn: gain a living; gain extra credits in school.
5.
a. To manage to achieve an increase of: a movement that gained strength; gained wisdom with age.
b. To increase by (a specific amount): gained 15 pounds; the market gained 30 points.
6. To come to; reach: gained the top of the mountain.
7. To become fast by (a specified amount of time). Used of a timepiece: My watch gains four minutes a day.
v.intr.
1. To increase; grow: gained in experience and maturity; a painting that gained in value.
2. To become better; improve: gaining in health.
3. To obtain a profit or advantage; benefit: stood to gain politically by his opponent's blunder.
4. To move closer to a person or thing that is moving ahead; close a gap: The runners in the back gained steadily on the leader.
5. To put on weight: I began to gain when I went off my diet.
6. To operate or run fast. Used of a timepiece.
n.
1.
a. Something gained or acquired: territorial gains.
b. Progress; advancement: The country made economic gains under the new government.
2. The act of acquiring; attainment.
3. An increase in amount or degree: a gain in operating income.
4. Electronics An increase in signal power, voltage, or current by an amplifier, expressed as the ratio of output to input. Also called amplification.
5. The reflectivity of a projection screen, usually expressed relative to the reflectivity of a standard surface of magnesium carbonate.
Idioms:
gain ground
To progress, advance, or increase: Stock prices gained ground yesterday.
gain time
1. To run too fast. Used of a timepiece.
2. To delay or prolong something until a desired event occurs.

[From Middle English gayne, booty (from Old French gaigne, gain, gain, from gaaignier, to gain, of Germanic origin; see weiə- in Indo-European roots) and Middle English gein, advantage (from Old Norse gegn, ready, and from Old French gain, gain).]

gain 2

 (gān)
n.
A notch or mortise cut into a board to receive another part.
tr.v. gained, gain·ing, gains
1. To cut out a gain in.
2. To join by or fit into a gain.

[Origin unknown.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

gains

(ɡeɪnz)
pl n
profits or winnings: ill-gotten gains.
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in classic literature ?
Strange as may be the historical account of how some king or emperor, having quarreled with another, collects an army, fights his enemy's army, gains a victory by killing three, five, or ten thousand men, and subjugates a kingdom and an entire nation of several millions, all the facts of history (as far as we know it) confirm the truth of the statement that the greater or lesser success of one army against another is the cause, or at least an essential indication, of an increase or decrease in the strength of the nation- even though it is unintelligible why the defeat of an army- a hundredth part of a nation- should oblige that whole nation to submit.
The gains of ordinary trades and vocations are honest; and furthered by two things chiefly: by diligence, and by a good name, for good and fair dealing.
In the first place, he is thought just, and therefore bears rule in the city; he can marry whom he will, and give in marriage to whom he will; also he can trade and deal where he likes, and always to his own advantage, because he has no misgivings about injustice and at every contest, whether in public or private, he gets the better of his antagonists, and gains at their expense, and is rich, and out of his gains he can benefit his friends, and harm his enemies; moreover, he can offer sacrifices, and dedicate gifts to the gods abundantly and magnificently, and can honour the gods or any man whom he wants to honour in a far better style than the just, and therefore he is likely to be dearer than they are to the gods.
A DISHONEST Gain was driving in its luxurious carriage through its private park, when it saw something which frantically and repeatedly ran against a stone wall, endeavouring to butt out its brains.
Fouquet, who has half an hour's start, and who will have gained his boat within an hour." This being said, the musketeer gave orders that the carriage with the iron trellis should be taken immediately to a thicket situated just outside the city.
All at once from the dark line of the horizon whither it retired to gain its momentum, the monster rushed suddenly towards the Abraham Lincoln with alarming rapidity, stopped suddenly about twenty feet from the hull, and died out--not diving under the water, for its brilliancy did not abate--but suddenly, and as if the source of this brilliant emanation was exhausted.
Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack show intelligence; those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength.
It was evident that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, so all that I considered necessary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety of some great branch before it came up.
"You are not feverish," he said thoughtfully, "and such flesh as you have gained is healthy.
Of this beauty, to which my poor feeble tongue has failed to do justice, countless princes, not only of that country, but of others, were enamoured, and among them a private gentleman, who was at the court, dared to raise his thoughts to the heaven of so great beauty, trusting to his youth, his gallant bearing, his numerous accomplishments and graces, and his quickness and readiness of wit; for I may tell your highnesses, if I am not wearying you, that he played the guitar so as to make it speak, and he was, besides, a poet and a great dancer, and he could make birdcages so well, that by making them alone he might have gained a livelihood, had he found himself reduced to utter poverty; and gifts and graces of this kind are enough to bring down a mountain, not to say a tender young girl.
At the first floor we found that the hallway ran but halfway through, necessitating the crossing of a rear room full of green folk, ere we could reach the inner courtyard, so there was but one thing left for us to do, and that was to gain the second floor and the hallway through which I had traversed the length of the building.
We had now gained sufficient headway to hold our own on about even terms with Hooja's paddlers.