drain
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɹeɪn/
note: see dreen
ipa: /dɹiːn/
rhymes: -eɪn
Forms: form: drains
form: drein
form: dreen
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.
Senses: examples: text: The drain in the kitchen sink is clogged.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 March 24, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, page 114:
glosses: A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
glosses: 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.
examples: text: Saganing Drain, Vermuyden's Drain, the South Drain river, Najafgarh drain
text: […] the little runs and drains, that come through the hills, and to the sources of the creeks and their branches.
ref: 1770 (printed in 1834), George Washington, The Writings of George Washington: pt. I. Official letters ..., page 531
text: 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.
ref: 1877, Verney Lovett Cameron, Across Africa, page 299:
glosses: A natural or artificial watercourse which drains a tract of land.
examples: text: That rental property is a drain on our finances.
glosses: Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.
glosses: An act of urination.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: One terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
qualifier: pinball
glosses: An outhole.
examples: text: 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?"
ref: 1850 September 14, [Charles Dickens], “Three “Detective” Anecdotes”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal., volume I, number 25, London: Office, […], →OCLC:
text: What did she want with money, except now and then for a drain of white satin.
ref: 1966, Henry Mayhew, Peter Quennell, London's Underworld, page 48:
glosses: A drink.
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