main man
28
6.9
- noun
- Informal
:
hombre clave
- Geoff Priestley's the main man here.
- Hey, main man
- Here is my main man
A tweet from our our main man over at MKBHD.
- A tweet from our our main man over at MKBHD.
- Was he the was he the main man at that time?
- So who was Chelsea's main man in their Champions League run last season?
- I want you to be my main man to be the goat.
- I wasn't main man, but they put me down as being the main man.
- He tried to assassinate Frick, who was Andrew Carnegie's main man in the Pittsburgh steel mill strike.
- I was his main man, he was saying, had been since we met in Brazil.
- He kind of was straightforward and said you're going to come in and be the main man.
- So just a little LA London combo here to wrap up the year and here with my main man Babin.
- I haven't got family at the moment, but for me, I want me to be the head of the family and to be the main man.
- Jamie, my main man Thunderbolt is here.
- I wasn't my man, but they put me down as being the main man.
Examples
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Can I get a Band-Aid for my main man David here, please?
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My main man Mookie has saved the day!
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Was he the was he the main man at that time?
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So tell me, my main man... you nervous in the service?
Fiction book (1997) -
You are my main man.
Fiction book (1991) -
Hey, Patrick, my main man.
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Well, it's the foreman, my main man.
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Chef Evans, our main man, Oscar in the back.
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Frank Gore is the main man, and he's shown a nice burst to go with his usual power.
Blog text (24) -
Bernard is the main man in our project; we rely on his leadership to guide us to success.
Synonyms
40
3.2
An important person who helps decide what happens in a group
13
6.1
Main person who leads and speaks for a project or task
12
3.8
An important person who plays the main role in a group or event
1
7.5
A person who is in charge of a group and makes the main decisions
1
6.0
A person who plays a very important role in a team or project
How Important
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'most important or trusted person' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'main' (primary, chief) with 'man' (person), following a standard adjective + noun composition that B1 learners can readily interpret. Although the phrase is colloquial and 'man' can be gendered in some contexts, the general 'person' sense is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so learners who know the constituents will understand it.
Etymology
Main man puts together main, meaning 'most important', and man, so imagine one man at the front of a group who everyone trusts and goes to for help. That's why it means 'the most important or trusted person'.