drain
[dreyn]
- 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.
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- to flow off gradually.
- to become empty or dry by the gradual flowing off of liquid or moisture: This land drains into the Mississippi.
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- 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.
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- go down the drain,
- to become worthless or profitless.
- to go out of existence; disappear.
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Origin of drain
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
drain
- 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
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- (tr often foll by off) to draw off or remove (liquid) fromto 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 awayleave 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 graduallythe 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
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Word Origin
Old English drēahnian; related to Old Norse drangr dry wood; see dry
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for go down the drain
drain
v.
Old English dreahnian "to drain, strain out," from Proto-Germanic *dreug-, source of drought, dry, giving the English word originally a sense of "make dry." Figurative meaning of "exhaust" is attested from 1650s. The word is not found in surviving texts between late Old English and the 1500s. Related: Drained; draining.
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drain
n.
1550s, from drain (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
drain
(drān)- A device, such as a tube, inserted into the opening of a wound or into a body or dental cavity to facilitate discharge of fluid or purulent material.
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- To draw off a liquid gradually as it forms.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Idioms and Phrases with go down the drain
go down the drain
see down the drain.
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drain
see brain drain; down the drain.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.