# drain
## English
### Alternative forms

* drein (obsolete)
* dreen (Appalachia)

### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dɹeɪn/
** Audio (US); [d̥ɹẽːn]:(file)
** Audio; [dɹe̞ɪ̯n]:(file)
* (dialectal) IPA: /dɹiːn/ (see dreen)
* Rhymes: -eɪn

### Noun

drain (plural drains)
* (chiefly US, Canada) A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
    The drain in the kitchen sink is clogged.
** 2013 March, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, page 114:An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.
* (chiefly 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.
* A natural or artificial watercourse which drains a tract of land.
    Saganing Drain, Vermuyden's Drain, the South Drain river, Najafgarh drain
** 1770 (printed in 1834), George Washington, The Writings of George Washington: pt. I. Official letters ..., page 531:
    […] the little runs and drains, that come through the hills, and to the sources of the creeks and their branches.
** 1877, Verney Lovett Cameron, Across Africa, page 299:The main drain of the country is the Walé nullah, which afterwards joins the Southern Ngombé and forms part of the system of the Malagarazi.
* Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.
    That rental property is a drain on our finances.
* (vulgar) An act of urination.
* (electronics) One terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
* (pinball) An outhole.
* (UK, slang, dated) A drink.
** 1850 September 14, [Charles Dickens], “Three “Detective” Anecdotes”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal., volume I, number 25, London: Office, […], →OCLC:When the play was over, we came out together, and I said, "We've been very companionable and agreeable, and perhaps you wouldn't object to a drain?"
** 1966, Henry Mayhew, Peter Quennell, London's Underworld, page 48:What did she want with money, except now and then for a drain of white satin.

#### Derived terms

* air drain
* brain drain
* catchdrain
* circle the drain
* counterdrain
* down the drain
* drainboard
* Drainbow
* drain cleaner
* drain cock, draincock
* Drainer
* drain fever
* drain field
* drain fly
* drainful
* drainless
* drainlike, drain-like
* drainmaker
* draino
* drain pan
* drainpipe, drain pipe
* drainplug, drain plug
* drain pump
* draintile
* draintrap
* drainwork
* French drain
* go down the drain
* Jackson-Pratt drain
* JP drain
* laugh like a drain
* like a rat up a drain
* Penrose drain
* pour down the drain
* reverse brain drain
* rubble drain
* spray drain
* storm drain
* subdrain
* table drain
* top-drain
* underdrain
* undrain
* well drain

#### Descendants

* → French: drain
* → Irish: draein
* → Welsh: draen

#### Translations
### Verb

drain (third-person singular simple present drains, present participle draining, simple past and past participle drained)
* (intransitive) To lose liquid.
    The clogged sink drained slowly.
    Knock knock. / Who’s there? / Dwayne. / Dwayne who? / Drain the bathtub, I’m drowning.
* (intransitive) To flow gradually.
    The water of low ground drains off.
* (transitive, ergative) To cause liquid to flow out of.
    Please drain the sink. It’s full of dirty water.
* (transitive, ergative) To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.
    They had to drain the swampy land before the parking lot could be built.
* (transitive) To deplete of energy or resources.
    The stress of this job is really draining me.
* (transitive) To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
** 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent.
** 1693, [William] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act V, page 45:At leaſt, I'm ſure I can fiſh it out of her. She's the very Sluce to her Lady's Secrets;—'Tis but ſetting her Mill agoing, and I can drein her of 'em all.
** 1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:But it was not alone that he drained their treasure and hampered their industry.
* (transitive, obsolete) To filter.
** 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:Salt water, drained through twenty vessels of earth, hath become fresh.
* (intransitive, pinball) To fall off the bottom of the playfield.
** 1990, Steven A. Schwartz, Compute's Nintendo Secrets:When a ball finally drains, it's gulped down by a giant gator beneath the set of flippers.
* (slang, archaic, transitive) To drink.
** Bet the Coaley's Daughter (traditional song)
    But when I strove my flame to tell, / Says she, 'Come, stow that patter, / If you're a cove wot likes a gal, / Vy don't you stand some gatter?' / In course I instantly complied— / Two brimming quarts of porter, / With sev'ral goes of gin beside, / Drain'd Bet the Coaley's daughter.
* (transitive, basketball, slang) To make a shot.

#### Alternative forms

* drein (obsolete)

#### Derived terms

* drainable
* drainage
* drain away
* drainback
* drainee
* draining (adjective)
* drain out
* drain the dragon
* drain the lizard
* drain the main vein
* drain the python
* drain the snake
* drain the swamp
* overdrain
* redrain
* subdrain
* underdrain
* undrain

#### Descendants

* → French: drainer (see there for further descendants)

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* ↑ Bingham, Caleb (1808) “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book […] ‎, 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 75.

### Anagrams

* Darin, Drina, Indra, Nadir, Nardi, Ndari, Radin, dinar, nadir, ranid

## Cimbrian
### Numeral

drain
* dative of drai
    Bar zèinan in drain.There are three of us.(literally, “We are in three.”)

## French
### Etymology

From English drain.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dʁɛ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

drain m (plural drains)
* (electronics) drain

### Further reading

* “drain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Welsh
### Alternative forms

* draen, draenennau

### Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *draɣen, from Proto-Celtic *dragenā (“sloetree, blackthorn, Prunus spinosa”) (compare Old Irish draigen, modern Irish draighean), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰergʰ- (“blackbush, sloe tree”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /drai̯n/
* Rhymes: -ai̯n
* Homophone: draen (South Wales)

### Noun

drain f (collective, singulative draenen)
* (botany) thorns

#### Derived terms

* afal drain, beri('r) drain (“hawthorn berry”)
* ar bigau drain, ar y drain, ar ddrain (“on tenterhooks”)
* draenog (“hedgehog”)
* drain Crist (“buckthorn”)
* drain du(on) (“blackthorn”)
* drain gwyn(ion), drain ysbyddad (“hawthorn”)
* drain wyneb (“pimples”)
* drain y camel (“camel-thorn”)
* drain yn ei gap (“a pox on their head!”)
* drain yr afr, drain y geifr (“Astragalus tragacantha”)
* drain yr Aifft (“acacias”)
* drain ysbinys (“barberry tree”)
* dreiniog (“thorny”)
* llidiart drain (“bush harrow (agricultural device)”)
* rhoi ddim drain (“ to not give two hoots, to not care a button”)
* talu ddim drain (“to be worthless”)

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### References

* ↑ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “dragena”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 104
* ↑ Griffiths, Bruce, Glyn Jones, Dafydd (1995) Geiriadur yr Academi: The Welsh Academy English–Welsh Dictionary‎, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, →ISBN
* ↑ R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “drain”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies