All 4 Uses of
rein
in
Atlas Shrugged
- Seeing it for a moment without the reins of tension, she realized suddenly the extent of the unhappiness he had borne; but it's past now, she thought, it's over.†
Chpt 1.9 *
- Now she felt, unaccountably, that the reins he had held were gone.†
Chpt 2.5
- It was the forgotten delight of being held in rapt attention by the reins of the ingenious, the unexpected, the logical, the purposeful, the new-and of seeing it embodied in a performance of superlative artistry by a woman playing a character whose beauty of spirit matched her own physical perfection.†
Chpt 3.2
- Now, it was as if their inner reins had broken.†
Chpt 3.10
Definition:
-
(rein as in: to rein in their activities) to restrain or control; or a means of controlThe meaning of rein depends upon its context. For example:
- "keep a tight rein on the new employee," or "rein in a horse" -- to control or restrain
- "give the new employee free rein," or "give the horse full rein" -- do not restrain
- "the reins of government" -- means of control
- "the reins of the horse" -- leather straps used with a bit to control a horse (You might like to think of other senses of rein as being figurative derivations from this sense.)