drain

Meaning

Noun

1. (Canada, US) A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
2. (UK) An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without going through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
3. A natural or artificial watercourse which drains a tract of land.
4. Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.
5. (vulgar) An act of urination.
6. One terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
7. An outhole.
8. (UK, dated, slang) A drink.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To lose liquid.
2. (intransitive) To flow gradually.
3. (ergative, transitive) To cause liquid to flow out of.
4. (ergative, transitive) To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.
5. (transitive) To deplete of energy or resources.
6. (transitive) To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To filter.
8. (intransitive) To fall off the bottom of the playfield.
9. (archaic, slang, transitive) To drink.
10. (slang, transitive) To make a shot.

Synonyms

gutter

ditch

sewer

empty

channel

exhaust

conduit

strain

draw out

discharge

drainage

dry

canal

deplete

spill

drainage ditch

waste pipe

filter

drainpipe

unload

duct

trench

drip

sink

sluice

pour

overflow

pour out

milk

🥛

gully

run out

drink up

bleed

🩸

evacuate

culvert

enfeeble

tap

trickle

disburden

squeeze

shed

tube

pipe

dump

let out

drop

furrow

debilitate

draw

consume

Translations

drainer

drenar

drenar

drain

entwässern

desaguar

vider

scolo

trockenlegen

scolare

assécher

αυλάκι

puisard

dränieren

Ablauf

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɹeɪn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: dreinen

Inherited from Old English: drēahnian

Cognate with Old English: drūgian

Cognate with Old English: drūgaþ

Cognate with Old English: drȳġe

In summary

From Middle English dreinen, from Old English drēahnian (“to drain, strain, filter”), from Proto-Germanic *drauhnōną (“to strain, sieve”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, parched”). Akin to Old English drūgian (“to dry up”), Old English drūgaþ (“dryness, drought”), Old English drȳġe (“dry”). More at dry.