drain

[ dreyn ]
See synonyms for drain on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to withdraw or draw off (a liquid) gradually; remove slowly or by degrees, as by filtration: to drain oil from a crankcase.

  2. to withdraw liquid gradually from; make empty or dry by drawing off liquid: to drain a crankcase.

  1. to exhaust the resources of: to drain the treasury.

  2. to deprive of strength; tire.

verb (used without object)
  1. to flow off gradually.

  2. to become empty or dry by the gradual flowing off of liquid or moisture: This land drains into the Mississippi.

noun
  1. something, as a pipe or conduit, by which a liquid drains.

  2. Surgery. a material or appliance for maintaining the opening of a wound to permit free exit of fluids.

  1. gradual or continuous outflow, withdrawal, or expenditure.

  2. something that causes a large or continuous outflow, expenditure, or depletion: Medical expenses were a major drain on his bank account.

  3. an act of draining.

  4. Physical Geography.

    • an artificial watercourse, as a ditch or trench.

    • a natural watercourse modified to increase its flow of water.

Idioms about drain

  1. go down the drain,

    • to become worthless or profitless.

    • to go out of existence; disappear.

Origin of drain

1
before 1000; Middle English dreynen,Old English drēhnian,drēahnian to strain, filter; akin to dry

Other 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

  • Even the Grass-land is often ridged so as to shed the water quickly, while deep ditches or drains do duty for fences.

    Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
  • So long as Christians have an overwhelming majority who will not touch the drains, diphtheria must continue.

    God and my Neighbour | Robert Blatchford
  • Their tracks have been seen along the government drains and around watering ponds where they probably went to hunt for frogs.

  • Second, the storm and sanitary drains are connected on the outside of the building.

    Elements of Plumbing | Samuel Dibble
  • They builded houses and forts, and dug drains and built aqueducts, and tilled the soil.

    Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. Steele

British Dictionary definitions for drain

drain

/ (dreɪn) /


noun
  1. a pipe or channel that carries off water, sewage, etc

  2. an instance or cause of continuous diminution in resources or energy; depletion

  1. surgery a device, such as a tube, for insertion into a wound, incision, or bodily cavity to drain off pus, etc

  2. electronics the electrode region in a field-effect transistor into which majority carriers flow from the interelectrode conductivity channel

  3. down the drain wasted

verb
  1. (tr often foll by off) to draw off or remove (liquid) from: to drain water from vegetables; to drain vegetables

  2. (intr often foll by away) to flow (away) or filter (off)

  1. (intr) to dry or be emptied as a result of liquid running off or flowing away: leave the dishes to drain

  2. (tr) to drink the entire contents of (a glass, cup, etc)

  3. (tr) to consume or make constant demands on (resources, energy, etc); exhaust; sap

  4. (intr) to disappear or leave, esp gradually: the colour drained from his face

  5. (tr) (of a river, etc) to carry off the surface water from (an area)

  6. (intr) (of an area) to discharge its surface water into rivers, streams, etc

Origin of drain

1
Old English drēahnian; related to Old Norse drangr dry wood; see dry

Derived 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

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.