drown

[droun]

verb (used without object)

to die under water or other liquid of suffocation.

verb (used with object)

to kill by submerging under water or other liquid.
to destroy or get rid of by, or as if by, immersion: He drowned his sorrows in drink.
to flood or inundate.
to overwhelm so as to render inaudible, as by a louder sound (often followed by out).
to add too much water or liquid to (a drink, food, or the like).
to slake (lime) by covering with water and letting stand.

Verb Phrases

drown in,
1. to be overwhelmed by: The company is drowning in bad debts.
2. to be covered with or enveloped in: The old movie star was drowning in mink.

Origin of drown

1250–1300; Middle English drounnen, Old English druncnian, perhaps by loss of c between nasals and shift of length from nn to ou

Related formsdrown·er, nounhalf-drowned, adjectivehalf-drown·ing, adjectiveun·drowned, adjective

Synonyms for drown

4. deluge, engulf, submerge, drench, soak.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for half-drowned

Historical Examples of half-drowned

Lambert came to himself with a half-drowned sense of suffocation.
The Duke Of Chimney Butte
G. W. Ogden
You get half-drowned, or drowned altogether, before you discover your danger.
Angling Sketches
Andrew Lang
And seems to me it sounded like a half-drowned shout for help.
Afloat on the Flood
Lawrence J. Leslie
The engineer placed the half-drowned creature by its mother's side.
Brooks's Readers, Third Year
Stratton D. Brooks
"Not about a half-drowned girl taking the trouble to wash her face," he said.
The Seven Darlings
Gouverneur Morris

British Dictionary definitions for half-drowned

half-drowned

adjective

nearly dead or killed by immersion in liquidhalf-drowned crewmen lay on the planks

drown

verb

to die or kill by immersion in liquid
(tr) to destroy or get rid of as if by submerginghe drowned his sorrows in drink
(tr) to drench thoroughly; inundate; flood
(tr sometimes foll by out) to render (a sound) inaudible by making a loud noise

Derived Formsdrowner, noun

Word Origin for drown

C13: probably from Old English druncnian; related to Old Norse drukna to be drowned

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

Word Origin and History for half-drowned

drown

c.1300, transitive and intransitive, perhaps from an unrecorded derivative word of Old English druncnian (Middle English druncnen) "be swallowed up by water" (originally of ships as well as living things), probably from the base of drincan "to drink."

Modern form is from northern England dialect, probably influenced by Old Norse drukna "be drowned." Related: Drowned; drowning.

Idioms and Phrases with half-drowned

drown

In addition to the idioms beginning with drown

drown one's sorrows
drown out

also see:

like a drowned rat