Main Street
Preserved but no longer current.
The principal thoroughfare in many of the smaller towns and cities of U.S.A. The novel of this name, by Sinclair Lewis (1920) epitomized the social and cultural life of these towns, and gave the phrase a signifi- cance of its own.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #31851 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Main Street” mean?
The principal thoroughfare in many of the smaller towns and cities of U.S.A. The novel of this name, by Sinclair Lewis (1920) epitomized the social and cultural life of these towns, and gave the phrase a signifi- cance of its own.
Is “Main Street” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.