Word.ws English Dictionary

reins

/ɹeɪnz/

reins is the plural of rein.

reins is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rein.

Noun

reins

  1. (archaic) The kidneys.
  2. The lower part of the back.
  3. The loins.
  4. The parts of a vault between the crown and the spring or abutment, including, and having especial reference to, the loading or filling behind the shell of the vault.

Meaning of rein

Noun (1)

rein (plural reins)

  1. A strap or rope attached to a bridle or bit, used to control a horse, other animal or young child.
  2. (figuratively) An instrument or means of curbing, restraining, or governing.
    • The government is attempting to keep a rein on rising prices.

Noun (2)

rein (plural reins)

  1. (archaic, plural) A kidney.
    • a man subject to these like imaginations[…]hath often the stone imaginarily, before he have it in his reines[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
  2. The inward impulses; the affections and passions, formerly supposed to be located in the area of the kidneys.
    • My reins rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 23:16

See all 8 meanings of rein

Proper noun capitalized: Reins

Reins

  1. (plural) plural of Rein

Origin of reins

See rein

From Old French reins, see also rein in French.

Phrases with reins

11 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with reins

22 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about reins

What does reins mean?
Reins means the kidneys.
What is reins the plural of?
Reins is the plural of rein.
What part of speech is reins?
Reins can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce reins?
Reins is pronounced /ɹeɪnz/.

Words near reins in the dictionary

  1. reinputting
  2. reinquire
  3. reinquired
  4. reinquires
  5. reinquiring
  6. reins
  7. reins in
  8. reins up
  9. reinscribe
  10. reinscribed
  11. reinscribes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reins (page history and authors); Reins (page history and authors); rein (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “reins.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reins. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.