MAIN.—The main is a principal term used in the fashionable and _destructive_ nocturnal game of HAZARD, at which so many immense fortunes have been squandered away, and so very few realized. The person who is the holder of the BOX containing a PAIR of DICE, being _set_ by an individual, or any part of the company, what money he, or they, may propose, and the money staked, (or, as it is _technically_ called, _covered_,) he, the CASTER, (that is, the _holder_ of the box,) shaking the dice, throws them out upon the table: if the surface of both display a number above _four_, and not over _nine_, that number is then publicly announced "the MAIN" by the GROOM PORTER, (who is the officiating attendant upon the company and the game;) but the Caster throwing _under_ four, or _over_ nine, at the first throw, it is then called aloud, "No main;" and the Caster repeats his throw till a number appears between _four_ and _ten_, whenever which happens, (as for instance, _eight_,) the Groom Porter instantly vociferates, "Eight is the main, eight;" and it is called the MAIN, because it is the _main_ for the _company_ against the next throw of the CASTER, which is called the CHANCE; as being _his own_ against the main previously thrown, and by both which the CASTER and the SETTERS must abide, when main and chance are thrown; though either party may _draw_ their _money_, upon not approving or fancying the main, provided they declare it before the _chance_ is _thrown_. The Caster throwing _eight_ or _twelve_, the very next throw to the main of eight, is said to "nick it," and wins the money. If he throws SEVEN for a MAIN, and immediately follows it with another seven, or an eleven, he nicks again, and wins likewise. Six and twelve are a nick to six; five and nine nick themselves, and win when they follow in succession, as described of _eight_. If, after throwing the main, the CASTER at the _next_ throw produces _under four_, they are called CRABS; he then loses, and his box-hand is said to be out, and he passes it to his next neighbour; when bets are made round the table according to fancy; some that the "Caster throws in;" others, that "he throws out;" exclusive of the constantly standing business, of SETTING the CASTER what money he requires before he throws a main; when which, and the chance, are both thrown, and declared by the Porter, the odds are _laid_ and _taken_ in every part of the room, as opinion may prompt, or judgment dictate. These odds are regulated upon a scale of equity, from which there can be no departure; it being an invariable principle of the game, that any person laying an unfair bet, or deviating from the _fixed odds_, can never win. Every minute particular of the game cannot be reduced to paper here, or indeed perfectly understood from theory; but a farther elucidation will be found under its proper head, HAZARD.