drain
to withdraw or draw off (a liquid) gradually; remove slowly or by degrees, as by filtration: to drain oil from a crankcase.
to withdraw liquid gradually from; make empty or dry by drawing off liquid: to drain a crankcase.
to exhaust the resources of: to drain the treasury.
to deprive of strength; tire.
to flow off gradually.
to become empty or dry by the gradual flowing off of liquid or moisture: This land drains into the Mississippi.
something, as a pipe or conduit, by which a liquid drains.
Surgery. a material or appliance for maintaining the opening of a wound to permit free exit of fluids.
gradual or continuous outflow, withdrawal, or expenditure.
something that causes a large or continuous outflow, expenditure, or depletion: Medical expenses were a major drain on his bank account.
an act of draining.
Physical Geography.
an artificial watercourse, as a ditch or trench.
a natural watercourse modified to increase its flow of water.
Idioms about drain
go down the drain,
to become worthless or profitless.
to go out of existence; disappear.
Origin of drain
1Other words from drain
- drain·a·ble, adjective
- drainer, noun
- o·ver·drain, verb
- un·drain·a·ble, adjective
- un·drained, adjective
- well-drained, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use drain in a sentence
Every second day the salt was "fished" out and laid on drainers to permit the adhering brine to run back into the pans.
It is dried in drainers such as we saw a few moments ago filled with the wood fiber.
The drainers into which it goes are large pens with perforated tile floors.
All the most successful drainers concur in the line of the steepest descent, as essential to effective and economical drainage.
Farm drainage | Henry Flagg FrenchThe practice of placing stones above the tiles is abandoned by all scientific drainers.
Farm drainage | Henry Flagg French
British Dictionary definitions for drain
/ (dreɪn) /
a pipe or channel that carries off water, sewage, etc
an instance or cause of continuous diminution in resources or energy; depletion
surgery a device, such as a tube, for insertion into a wound, incision, or bodily cavity to drain off pus, etc
electronics the electrode region in a field-effect transistor into which majority carriers flow from the interelectrode conductivity channel
down the drain wasted
(tr often foll by off) to draw off or remove (liquid) from: to drain water from vegetables; to drain vegetables
(intr often foll by away) to flow (away) or filter (off)
(intr) to dry or be emptied as a result of liquid running off or flowing away: leave the dishes to drain
(tr) to drink the entire contents of (a glass, cup, etc)
(tr) to consume or make constant demands on (resources, energy, etc); exhaust; sap
(intr) to disappear or leave, esp gradually: the colour drained from his face
(tr) (of a river, etc) to carry off the surface water from (an area)
(intr) (of an area) to discharge its surface water into rivers, streams, etc
Origin of drain
1Derived forms of drain
- drainable, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with drain
see brain drain; down the drain.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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