"might and main" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "strength"
      },
      "expansion": "strength",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A reduplication of two words meaning strength.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "might and main (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "c.1890s, Giovanni Boccaccio, James McMullen Rigg (translator), The Decameron, Novel 1, 6,\n[…] he strove might and main to pass himself off as a holy man […]"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With all one's strength; as hard as one can."
      ],
      "id": "en-might_and_main-en-adv-Fa336Vqf",
      "links": [
        [
          "strength",
          "strength"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "might and main"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "strength"
      },
      "expansion": "strength",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A reduplication of two words meaning strength.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "might and main (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with collocations",
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          "_dis": "27 73",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "23 77",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "27 73",
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          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "with might and main",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1852, Catherine M. Sedgwick, “The Sabbath In New England”, in John Seely Hart, editor, The Female Prose Writers of America: With Portraits, Biographical Notices, and Specimens of their Writings",
          "text": "The good mothers, like Burns’s matron, are plying their needles, making \"auld claes look amaist as weel’s the new;\" while the domestics, or help (we prefer the national descriptive term), are wielding, with might and main, their brooms and mops, to make all tidy for the Sabbath.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 August 15, Senan Molony, “Give McEntee an accountability holiday on street crime–for now”, in Irish Independent, page 8",
          "text": "Another horrific attack on tourists to Dublin in the city centre and in the height of summer. Gardaí are doing their job with might and main.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "All one's strength."
      ],
      "id": "en-might_and_main-en-noun-2CJmqy01",
      "links": [
        [
          "strength",
          "strength"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "horse and foot"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "might and main"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adverbs",
    "English coordinated pairs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English manner adverbs",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English uncomparable adverbs",
    "English uncountable nouns"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "strength"
      },
      "expansion": "strength",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A reduplication of two words meaning strength.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "might and main (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "c.1890s, Giovanni Boccaccio, James McMullen Rigg (translator), The Decameron, Novel 1, 6,\n[…] he strove might and main to pass himself off as a holy man […]"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With all one's strength; as hard as one can."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "strength",
          "strength"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "might and main"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adverbs",
    "English coordinated pairs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English manner adverbs",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English uncomparable adverbs",
    "English uncountable nouns"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "strength"
      },
      "expansion": "strength",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A reduplication of two words meaning strength.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "might and main (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "horse and foot"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "with might and main",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1852, Catherine M. Sedgwick, “The Sabbath In New England”, in John Seely Hart, editor, The Female Prose Writers of America: With Portraits, Biographical Notices, and Specimens of their Writings",
          "text": "The good mothers, like Burns’s matron, are plying their needles, making \"auld claes look amaist as weel’s the new;\" while the domestics, or help (we prefer the national descriptive term), are wielding, with might and main, their brooms and mops, to make all tidy for the Sabbath.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 August 15, Senan Molony, “Give McEntee an accountability holiday on street crime–for now”, in Irish Independent, page 8",
          "text": "Another horrific attack on tourists to Dublin in the city centre and in the height of summer. Gardaí are doing their job with might and main.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "All one's strength."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "strength",
          "strength"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "might and main"
}