entrain

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle French entrainer (modern French entraîner / entrainer), from en- + trainer (“to pull, drag”).

Verb

entrain (third-person singular simple present entrains, present participle entraining, simple past and past participle entrained) (transitive)

1. To draw (something) along as a current does. [from 1854]

   water entrained by steam

2. (chemistry) To suspend (small particles) in the current of a fluid.
   • 1963, W. D. Jamrack, Rare metal extraction by chemical engineering techniques:

     In certain cases, it is possible to entrain enough of the solids continually in the effluent gas stream and then to disentrain them again away from the bed.

3. (mathematics) To set up or propagate (a signal), such as an oscillation.
4. (figuratively) To conjoin, to link; as in a series of entities, elements, objects or processes.
5. (neurobiology) To become trained or conditioned in (a pattern of brain behavior).
   • 2007, James R. Evans, Handbook of Neurofeedback: Dynamics and Clinical Applications, →ISBN:

     There are several neurofeedback-related approaches that make use of auditory and/or visual stimulation (AVS) to entrain or disentrain brain electrical activity.

   • 2013, Simone Bassis, Anna Esposito, Francesco Carlo Morabito, Recent Advances of Neural Network Models and Applications, →ISBN:

     Hence, interestingly, a speaker (VR) might disentrain in no-frequency but entrain in the frequency of a particular discourse function; we also have a speaker with the opposite pattern (DF).

6. (now literary and rare) To draw, induce, or bring about. [from 1568]
   • 1568, Thomas Howell, “Of Counsaile”, in The Arbor of Amitie, Wherin Is Comprised Pleasant Poëms and Pretie Poesies, […], London: […] Henry Denham, […], →OCLC, folio 11, verso:

     Thou muſt doe well, / Faith true obtaine: / Wit none repell, / Friend déere entraine.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Vpon Some Verses of Virgill”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book III, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 505:

     That infancie looketh forward, and age backward; was it not that which lanus his double viſage ſignifide? yeares entraine me if they pleaſe; but backward.

   • 1656 September 18 (Gregorian calendar), Richard Tomlinson, “To His Honoured, Learned, and Vertuous Friend, William Witheings Esq.”, in Joannes Renodæus [i.e., Jean de Renou], translated by Richard Tomlinson, The Pharmaceutrical^[sic] Shop, […] (A Medicinal Dispensatory, Containing the Whole Body of Physick: […]), London: […] J[ohn] Streater, and J[ames] Cottrel, published 1657, →OCLC, signature Nnn2, verso (page [476]):

     It is not the gawdy luſtre of the Purple, but the inward vertue of the Perſon, that proclaims Greatneſs; having alwayes obſerved you to entrain Humility and Integrity for your Retainers.

   • 1697, [John Vanbrugh], “[Part I]”, in Æsop. A Comedy. […], 3rd edition, London: […] Richard Wellington, […], published 1702, →OCLC, Act II, page 15:

     The Stomach (like an Aged Maid, / Shrunk up, for want of human aid) / The Common Debt of Nature paid, / And with it’s Deſtiny entrain’d their Fate.

   • 1939, Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn, Paris: The Obelisk Press Books; Les Éditions du Chêne […], published 3 June 1948, →OCLC, page 18:

     I was my own boss and I had my own hours, but unlike other bosses I entrained only my own ruin, my own bankruptcy.

   • 2011 October 25, Robert Trivers, “The 2003 US War on Iraq”, in The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN, chapter 11 (Self-Deception and War), page 257:

     If the world survives, this war will surely be taught as a textbook case of a colossal military blunder entrained by deceit and self-deception.

Derived terms

• disentrain
• entrainable
• entrainer
• entrainment
• photoentrain
• reentrain
• reentrained
• unentrained

Etymology 2

From en- +‎ train.

Verb

entrain (third-person singular simple present entrains, present participle entraining, simple past and past participle entrained)

2. (poetic, intransitive) To get into or board a railway train. [from 1878]

   Antonym: detrain

   • 1947 January and February, Gerald Druce (Jun.), “A Journey on the "Slovak Arrow"”, in Railway Magazine, page 17:

     There were two further unscheduled stops, one at a small station, Skalice, where a small party of tourists entrained, and at Břeclav, a junction and customs post on the Austrian frontier.

   • 1959 April, “Talking of Trains: The S.R. tells the public”, in Trains Illustrated, page 174:

     [...] and the Southern Region has recently given another lead by adopting an approach practised for some time by certain U.S. commuter railroads - the pamphlet or brochure left on every seat at a rush-hour before passengers entrain.

4. (transitive) To put aboard a railway train. [from 1878]

   Antonym: detrain

   to entrain a regiment

   • 1946 March and April, “The Why and The Wherefore: L.N.E.R. Suburban Trains on the Cheshire Lines”, in Railway Magazine, page 129:

     The train of articulated L.N.E.R. stock, of the type used on the London suburban services, which you have seen travelling empty over the Cheshire Lines Committee's main line through Trafford Park about midday in a westerly direction, was probably being sent to entrain workers from Risley (between Glazebrook and Padgate) at the conclusion of the morning shift.

Derived terms

• disentrain

Etymology 3

From French entrain, a deverbal from entraîner (“to charm, enthuse”) or a derivation from être en train (“to be in a good mood”).

Noun

entrain (countable and uncountable, plural entrains)

1. (now rare) Spirit, liveliness, vivacity, drive. [from 1847]
   • 1847, Mrs. Butler, late Fanny Kemble, “Lines”, in A Year of Consolation. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 60:

     [T]he greater number of reasonable people attributed the want of entrain and dullness of the whole thing to the presence of Monsignore ——.

   • 1894, George Saintsbury, Pride and Prejudice (introduction):

     To some the delightful freshness and humour of Northanger Abbey, its completeness, finish, and entrain, obscure the undoubted critical facts that its scale is small, and its scheme, after all, that of burlesque or parody, a kind in which the first rank is reached with difficulty.

   • 1899 July 2, Free Lance [pseudonym], “Among Musicians”, in Weekly Dispatch, number 5099, London, →OCLC, page 8, column 3:

     Mr. Robert Newman’s orchestral concert season came to a brilliant close on Wednesday evening, when [Pyotr Ilyich] Tschaikowsky’s favourite symphony was rendered with all the sympathy and splendid entrain which Mr. Henry Wood commands from his band.

   • 1994, Kurt Gänzl, “Les Prés Saint-Gervais”, in The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, American edition, volume [2] (L–Z), New York, N.Y.: Schirmer Books, →ISBN, page 1170, column 2:

     [Charles] Lecocq’s score to Les Prés Saint-Gervais was written in a manner suited to its period and classic subject, without the bouffe effects of a Giroflé Girofla, or the entrain of an Angot, […]

Anagrams

• Tiernan, tannier, trannie

French

Etymology

Either a deverbal from entraîner (“to charm, enthuse”) or composed of en +‎ train as a derivation from être en train (“to be in a good mood”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.tʁɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

entrain m (uncountable)

1. spirit, liveliness, vivacity, drive

Further reading

• “entrain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• reniant