Etymologically
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rein

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reine, also rene,[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman reine, also reisne,[6][7] borrowed from Old French resne, also rene,[6][2][8] now French rêne,[2][4] probably from Vulgar Latin *retina (“a bond, check”),[2][8][9] or post-classical Medieval Latin retina (“rein”), recorded from the 8th century,[6] from Latin retineō (“to hold back”),[6][2][9] the source of retain.[10][9] Etymonline and Klein see the Latin noun as a back-formation from the verb,[2][4] and Barnhart and the OED compare retināculum (“tether, halter”),[8][6] and Italian redina and Spanish rienda.[6][8][4] The verb, Middle English reinen, is formed from the noun.[6][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A strap fastened to a horse's bridle or bit, used to guide it: 1297, in manorial documents.[6] Barnhart dates it to probably before 1300, and Etymonline to about 1300.[8][2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, a means of guiding or a check or restraint, is recorded from before 1350,[6] about 1325 according to Barnhart.[11] Many phrases came from the handling of horses: to hold the reins, to wield power (early 15th century), to take the reins (1610s),[2] and the reins of power or of government (1607).[6] To give rein to something, to let it go freely, is recorded from 1484, and to give a horse its head in this way from 1606;[6] to keep a tight rein on is from 1717.[6] In the plural, the word also came to mean the straps used to guide a small child (1878).[6][12] The verb first meant to tie a horse by the reins (about 1300, obsolete by the 1590s),[6][2] then to guide a horse with the reins (about 1425) and to check it by pulling on them (before 1525);[6] the figurative sense "to restrain" is recorded from 1531,[6] or from Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (1588) in Barnhart.[8] Chaucer used the noun seven times.[13]

Timeline

  • 1297 – the strap used to guide a horse.[6]
  • c. 1330 – verb, to tie a horse by the reins (obsolete by 1593).[6]
  • before 1350 – a means of control, a check or restraint.[6]
  • c. 1425 – verb, to guide a horse by the reins.[6]
  • 1484 – give rein to, to give freedom to.[6]
  • 1531 – verb, to restrain, figuratively.[6]
  • 1607 – the reins, control, as of government.[6]
  • 1717 – keep a tight rein on.[6]
  • 1878 – straps to guide a young child.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A long strap, usually one of a pair, fastened to the bit or bridle of a horse and used by the rider or driver to guide it.[3][12][6]
  2. A similar strap or harness used to keep hold of a small child.[12][6]
  3. A means of control or restraint; in the plural, control or command: The founder finally handed over the reins to her son.[3][12][6]
  4. give (free) rein to: to allow freedom to: She gave free rein to her imagination.[12][6]
  5. keep a tight rein on: to keep under close control.[12][6]

Verb

  1. To check, guide or stop a horse by pulling on the reins: The rider reined her horse to a halt.[3][12][6]
  2. To restrain or control, often with in: The council tried to rein in its spending.[3][12][6]
  3. (obsolete) To tie a horse to something by the reins.[3][6][14]

Word family

  • reinless
  • reinsman
  • checkrein
  • free rein
  • bearing rein

Usage notes

Rein is unrelated to reindeer and to an obsolete rein meaning reindeer (1555–1896), which came from Scandinavian.[10][6][3] Dictionary.com lists it with reign and rain, which sound the same, as words that are confused: the expression is give free rein, from the handling of horses.[15][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House