G A I 
That, fir, which fervcs for 
And follows blit for form, 
AVill pack, wlien it begins to rain, 
And leave thee in (he ftorm. Shakefjxare. 
Unlawful advantage.—Did I make a gain of you by any 
of them whom 1 fent unto you ? i Cor. xii, 17, 
If pride, if envy, if the lufl oigain. 
If mad ambition, in thy bofom reign, 
Thou boafl’ll, alas! thy fober fenfe in vain. Fitzgerald, 
Overplus in a comparative computationj any thing op- 
pofed to lofs : 
Who knows the balance of our lofs and j'a/tz 9 
Who knows, how far a rattle may outweigh 
The mace or feeptre ? Davies. 
Te GAIN, v.a. \_gagner, Fr.] To obtain as profit or 
advantage.—What reinforcement we m'&y gain from hope. 
Milton. — Fo win ; not to lofe.—A leper once he loft, and 
gain’d a king. Milton. —To have tlie overplus in compara¬ 
tive computation.—If you have two velfels to fill, and 
you empty one to till the other, you gain nothing by that. 
Brown. —To obtain; to procure ; to receive : 
For fame with toil we gain, but lofe with eafe, 
Sure fome to vex, but never all to pleafe. Pope. 
To obtain increafe of any thing allotted.—I know that ye 
would gain the time, becaufeyefee the thing is gone from 
me. Dan. ii. 8.—To obtain whatever, good or bad.—Ye 
ftiould not have loofed from Crete, and have gained this 
harm and lofs. AEls, xxvii. 21.—rTo win againft oppofi-, 
tion: 
O love ! for Sylvia let me gain the prize. 
And make my tongue victorious as her eyes. Pope. 
To draw into any intereft or party: 
Come, with prefents, laden from the port. 
To gratify the queen and gain the court. Drjdcn. 
To obtain as a wooer ; 
lie never fltall find out fit mate, but fuch 
As fome misfortune brings him, or miftake, 
Or whom he wifties inoft fhall feldom gain 
Through her perverfenefs, but lhall fee her gain'd 
By a far wo'rfe. Milton. 
To reach ; to attain.—Death was the poll, which I al- 
moftdid^azVz. Waller. 
Sun ! found his praife 
In thy eternal courfe, both when thou climb’ft. 
And when high noon haft and when thou fall’ll. 
Milton. 
To Gain over. To draw to another party or intereft. 
—The court of Hanover ftiould have endeavoured Xo gain 
over thofe who were reprefented as their enemies. Swift. 
To GAIN, v.n, Togrowrich; to have advantage ; to 
be advanced in intereft or happinefs.—Thou haft taken 
ufury and increafe, and thou haft greedily gained of thy 
Keighbours by extortions. Ezek. xxii. 12.—To encroach; 
to come forward by degrees ; with on : 
When watchful herons leave their wat’ry ftand, 
And mounting upward with eredted flight, 
Gain on the Ikies, and foar above the fight. Dryden, 
So bn the land, while here the ocean gaintf 
In other parts it leaves wide fandy plains. Pope. 
To get round ; to prevail againft; wither.—The Englifti 
have not only gained upon the Venetians in the Levant, but 
have their cloth in Venice itfelf. Addifon. —To obtain in. 
fluence with j with on. —My good behaviour had fo 
far on the emperor, that I began to conceive hopes of li¬ 
berty. Swift. 
•GAIN, adj. [An old word now out of ufe. j Handy ; 
ready ; dexterous. 
VoL. VllL No. 493. 
G A I m 
GAIN'AGE, f. [gainaginm, Lat.] In law, the gain or 
profit of tilled.or planted land, railed by cultivating it; 
alfo the draught, plough, and furniture, for carrying on 
the work of tillage, by the baferkind of fokd-men or vil¬ 
leins. Gainage was only applied to arable land, when 
they tliat had it inoccupation, had nothing thereof but 
the profit raifed by it from their own labour, towards 
their fuftcnance, nor any other title but at the lord’s will: 
and gainer is ufed for a foke-man, that hath fuch land in 
occupation. BraEl.lih. i. c. 9. The word gam is, men¬ 
tioned by Weft, Symb. par. 2.fe£l:. 3. where he fays. Land 
in demefne, but not in gain, &c. And in the 51 Ken. III. 
ft. 4, tliere are tliefe words ; “ No man fhall be diftrained 
by his beafts, that gain tlie land.” In the ftatute of Mag- 
na Charta, c. 14, by gainage is meant r.o more tlian the 
plough-tackle, or implements of hufbandry, without any 
rerpefl to gain or profit: where it is faid of the kiiight 
and freeholder, he ftiall be amerced Jalvo contenementoJm •, 
the merchant or trader, falvo merchandfa fua ; and the 
villein or connXryman, falvo gainagio fuo. See. In which 
cafes it was, that the merchant and hu(bandman fnould 
not be hindered, to the detriment pf the public, or be un¬ 
done by arbitrary fines; and the villein had his wainage, 
to the end that the plough might not ftand ftill; for 
which reafon the hulbandmen at this day are allowed a 
like privilege by law, that their beafts of the plough arc 
not, in many cafes, liable to diftrefs. See the article 
Distress. 
GAINBATE'SA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of 
Naples, and county of Molife : eighteen miles eafi-fouth- 
eaft of Molife. 
GAIN'ER,/". One who receives profit or advantage.— 
He that lofesany thing, and gets vvildom by it, is a gainer 
by the lofs. L'EJlrange. 
GAIN'FARHN, a town of Germany', in the archdu¬ 
chy of Auftria : one mile fouth-fouth-welt of Baden. 
GAIN'FUL, Advantageous; profitable.—Hewill 
dazzle his eyes, and bait him in with the lufeious pro- 
. pofal of fome gainful purchafe, fome rich match, or ad¬ 
vantageous projedl. South. —Lucrative; produdrive of 
money.—Nor knows he merchants’gazw/l’/care. Dryden. 
Maro’s mufe commodious precepts gives, 
Inftrudtive to th.e fwains, nor w holly bent 
On vihiA is gahful. - Philips, 
GAIN'FULLY, adv. Profitably; advantageoufly. 
GAIN'FULNESS, y. Profit; advantage. 
GAIN'GIVING, /. The fame as mifgiving; a giving 
againft ; as gainfaying, which is ftill in ufe, is faying 
againft, or contradidling.—It is but foolery ; but it is 
fuch kind of gaingiving, as would, perhaps, trouble a 
woman. Shakefpeare. 
GAIN'LESS, adj. Unprofitable; producing no ad¬ 
vantage. 
GAIN'LESSNESS,/. Unprofitablenefs; want of ad¬ 
vantage.—The parallel holds too in Xht gairtlejfncfs as wtW 
as laborioufnefs of the work : miners, buried in earth and 
darknefs, were never the richer for all the ore they dig¬ 
ged ; no more is the infatiable mifer. Decay of Piety. 
GAIN'LY, adv. Handily; readily; dexteroufly. Out 
of ufe. 
To GAIN'S AY, v.a. To contradift ; to oppofe; t» 
controvert with; to difpute againft.—Speeches'which 
gainfay one another, muft of neceftity be applied' both 
unto one and the fame fubjeft. Hooker. 
Too facile then, thou didft not much gainfay ; 
Nay, didft permit, approve, and fair difmils. Milton. 
To deny any thing : 
I never heard yet '* 
That any of thofe bolder vices wanted 
Lefs impudence to what they did 
Than to perform it firft. Shakefpeare. 
GAIN'SAYER, /. Opponent; adverfary.—Such as 
X X may 
