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In response to my questioning of Van Herwijnen's phrase "free reign,"
the answers were--
- 6 for "rein", citing
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (Centenary Ed. 1970)
The Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage
The American Heritage Dictionary
- 1 for "reign", no citation
Steve Fouts quotes the Harper Dictionary to the effect that "When these
expressions are used figuratively the spelling is always rein." Sounds
a little draconion because of course "free reign" is a perfectly good
phrase in its own right; but I guess that even if used intentionally
it looks like an error... though deborah -at- asl -dot- dl -dot- nec -dot- com writes
" I've had several coworker writers who definitely felt that
they reigned over format! (:-> ".
