Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

drain

[dreyn]

Rescue Rooter® Plumbing www.rescuerooter.com/Orange Book Now for 15% off drain cleaning & Receive free camera inspection!

Blue Ridge Plumbing www.yellowpages.com/Plumbing 24/7 Plumbing Services in San Fernando Valley.

Drainage Problems? www.julianconstruction.com Don't let water drainage damage your foundation. Free Inspection.

Ads

verb (used with object)

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.

Drain Cleaning Company www.absince1937.com Since 1937-Service Repair & Install Save on Plumbing & Drain Cleaning!

verb (used without object)

to flow off gradually.

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

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Drain is one of our favorite verbs.

So is subtilize. Does it mean:

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

to run away hurriedly; flee.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

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.

10.

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

11.

an act of draining.

EXPAND

12.

Physical Geography.

an artificial watercourse, as a ditch or trench.

a natural watercourse modified to increase its flow of water.

COLLAPSE

Idiom

13.

go down the drain,

to become worthless or profitless.

to go out of existence; disappear.

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

Related forms

drain·a·ble, adjective

drain·er, noun

o·ver·drain, verb

un·drain·a·ble, adjective

un·drained, adjective

EXPAND

well-drained, adjective

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To drain

Example Sentences

Drain opening agents are chemicals used to open clogged drains, often in homes.

They immediately halted the discharges and began installing piping to drain the water into the sanitary sewer.

Overall, the brain drain actually helps poor countries.

EXPAND

Drain opening agents are chemicals used to open clogged drains, often in homes.

They immediately halted the discharges and began installing piping to drain the water into the sanitary sewer.

Overall, the brain drain actually helps poor countries.

Have students conduct research to find out whether their town has a storm drain system.

These wells are there to withdraw fluids and drain the formation, not to stick stuff into them.

If you put something down a drain you shouldn't have and the drain gets blocked, it's usually not much more than annoying.

Clay soils absorb water slowly and drain slowly as well, retaining water longer than other soils.

Position a catch tub under the oil pan and unscrew the drain plug.

The warm water of a storm drain at the beach is sometimes more inviting than the chilly surf offshore.

However, remedies for drain woes are usually simple.

The project was designed to deal with a severe brain drain in many developing countries.

Some fear that emigration is turning from a safety valve to a brain drain.

Add shrimp and chives, and cook for another minute, and drain.

It would be one drain connecting with another winding past each other in the exchange.

Salamanders cling to the sides, bottom and drain gate of the reservoir and swim through the water.

On top, place a container without a drain hole, and conceal it with more pebbles.

As an everyday light replacement the battery drain might put you off.

The team had rented an industrial pump to drain the field.

When they are on but not in use, they drain the battery.

The biggest source of resentment here is the failure to drain the lake.

Remove from the oil and drain on absorbent paper towels.

Your moral consideration for other human life goes down the drain as soon as someone expresses a different opinion.

When the post-hurricane floods drain away, there will be tons of debris left behind.

Rinse well under cold running water until cool, then drain again.

The battle between component performance and battery drain is hotter than ever.

Boils usually must open and drain before they will heal.

Then of course there's all the underemployed circling the drain.

Politicians in wealthy countries are worried that immigration is a drain on the public purse.

Balance the garbage can between three or four cinder blocks so the holes on the bottom can drain without obstruction.

Don't create a water flow that erodes the land and creates deep chasms that drain the water table.

Few everyday items interact with magnetic fields, so it's unlikely for something to unintentionally drain power from the coils.

The creamy filling can be reasonably lean if you drain nonfat yogurt for the cheese.

Raising jellyfish takes patience, biological savvy and special attention to make sure they don't get flushed down the drain.

After surgery, one or more tubes will be placed into your chest area to drain out fluids that build up.

Rather than being a drain on society they can contribute both with their skills and financially.

As the waters began to drain away and the displaced to trickle home, politicians promised action.

Rivers and streams drain the high peaks along the central mountain ranges in every direction.

Please revise your history and drain your racism down the drain.

After you drain the water, put half a teaspoon of salt in each and mix.

These tiny granules absorb water that would otherwise drain away.

The government's latest emigration figures show the brain drain to be as pervasive as ever.

There are always people who drain us and people who nourish us.

To do this, they need to reverse the brain drain into foreign outfits or offshore-services firms.

Once their prey is caught, they drain out the water.

The study was conducted on a type of ground called thermokarst, which allows water to drain away as it melts.

Deep gorges running through forests drain rivers into the lakes, and many feature waterfalls.

Position the roof so the drain slot clears the base.

First, you will get a build-up of goop and foreign objects in your sink drain.

Opponents say proposed federal facility to study dangerous pathogens is a health risk and will drain public-health resources.

They had bribed a guard to gain access to the tank, and little by little had managed to drain off two tonnes of the stuff.

Drain the pasta and transfer it to the olive oil-coated sauté pan.

To me, it's an immensely sad thing to see the awesome discussion culture of v2 go down the drain.

If something happens to your e-reader, that's a huge chunk of change gone down the drain.

The packed gravel is a permeable surface that lets rainwater drain so feet stay dry during wet winters.

Choose to spend time with people who enrich you, instead of drain you.

These figures do not necessarily indicate a brain drain.

Home users aren't a big power drain it's the transportation and businesses that are.

It might not help with employment in the utah town but it would ease the drain on the river and give clean electricity.

Slide the plastic tubing's free end through the drain hole of the large pot.

Basically, they work by pouring warm saline up one nostril and having to drain out the other.

Otherwise, all its good initiatives will go down the drain.

Drain and dry them before dipping them first in the batter and then in the coconut mixed with the cornflakes.

Teak boards mask plumbing, and slotted boards on the floor drain into a hidden shower pan.

Drowning government in a bathtub risks taking all of us down the drain along with it.

Drain the water completely then mix salt and flour into it.

Drain the potatoes and pour them, piping hot, into a bowl.

Also flood large areas and retain the water, not let it drain back into the river after flood stage.

Drain and serve immediately with chicken soup of your choice.

Don't reuse old oil to fry doughnuts, and don't pour it down the drain to discard.

Crushed drain rock adds a contemporary edge to bluestone pavers.

Avoid plants that have pale leaves, overly leggy growth, or roots protruding through drain holes.

With a fork, dip each piece of fish into beer batter, then lift out and let drain briefly.

Position the roof so the drain slots clear the base.

Protect them with a coat of white latex paint or a length of corrugated drain pipe split lengthwise.

Pour milk and butter into strainer and let drain briefly.

Potting mix for cymbidiums should drain fast yet retain moisture.

Let them drain on paper towels for a few days until they're completely dry.

Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.

The trail is naturally paved with pebbly granite and forest duff that drain moisture and muck.

For decades the prevailing philosophy about rainwater was to catch it and route it into a storm drain.

Meenu had one and it finally got to where it would drain itself every so often.

Greeks are rioting because they can see their economic future being washed down the drain of the euro.

Starks wonders if high winds and the chill might be a drain on bee energy for hives planted on top of tall city buildings.

Drain opening agent poisoning can occur if a child accidentally drinks these chemicals.

They held his head in a drain full of sewage until he inhaled.

Sandy soils, in contrast, absorb water quickly and drain just.

First, no more wasting water down the drain because you forgot to shut.

China's leaders are determined to reverse the drain of top talent that accompanied its opening to the outside world.

In later years, the empire was on the defensive, so the army was a drain on the public purse.

As the rains gushes from your gutter to the drain below,.

Let's say that your car has a typical automatic transmission, and the pan on the bottom of the case does not have a drain plug.

Without it, money spent on aid and development is money down the drain.

Don't let the cold water run down the drain as you wait for it to get hot.

Consumers who flush unwanted contraceptives down the drain have long been blamed for giving fish more than their fair share of.

In a traditional urinal, water pools in the drain after every flush, preventing sewer gases from escaping into living areas.

Pumps were used yesterday to drain the overflow in the flooded area.

To bar them from elected office would be to drain an awful lot of human talent from our public life.

They drain public coffers and encourage wasteful domestic consumption, using petrol that could be better sold for export.

If you live near an ocean, you might want to stencil a storm drain.

Drain and serve piled on a hot dish, and garnished with fried parsley.

First, put on dishwashing gloves, remove the drain cover and clean out.

I've been trying it and my sinuses drain afterwards.

Irrigating qat is also a drain on water reserves that are anyway drying up fast.

It used to be standard procedure for customs officials to pour the stuff down the drain.

And if you drain them properly, then not much of that sticks around.

Be sure that the sink is secure on the hanger bracket, then hook up the drain pipes.

Making the latter point explicit would tend to drain both the teacher's and the students' energy.

Houston has a more resilient economy, but it worries about a brain drain.

First, no more wasting water down the drain because you forgot to shut off the tap.

The drain sections are held in place with slip nuts and washers.

The goal is to avoid a technological arms race that can drain college coffers to minimal effect.

Gargoyles drain water away from the cathedral's facade, and chimeras are simple-though fantastic-decorations.

Even so, she says, everyone recognized that lawsuits would quickly drain the society's limited resources.

Imagine dropping your entire photo collection down the drain when swapping out cards from the camera.

It's an economic drain on governments with already badly depleted budgets.

And bear in mind the tremendous drain on time that moving takes.

It takes them a few years to drain these pools and get into trouble.

Quite a bit of this water goes to waste, circling down the drain or running into the sewer without benefiting anyone.

Then, remove the hose and let the excess fluid in the hose drain back into the source.

Then compare this measurement with the drain requirement on the new pedestal sink.

Attempts to correct the moisture problem by adding weep holes to drain away water didn't help.

But it also raises anxiety among workers about low pay and a drain of jobs to cheaper locations.

US industry-from pet food production to growing wheat-is a huge drain on freshwater resources, a new study says.

As they inflate, the veins that would normally drain the blood are squeezed shut.

Drain through a strainer, and rinse until the water runs clear.

To its minister, the structure was a draughty drain on precious resources.

And that extra carbon takes a long time to drain out of the tub.

Check out the full post for the clickable links to drain your bank balance.

Simmer two minutes, drain and add fresh water to cover.

The natural downsides are time/brain drain and risking mom's indignation, but maybe this is worth it to get the wedding you want.

Plainly, vast dollops of aid have gone down the drain.

Drill or poke holes in wood, metal or plastic containers to allow water to drain from the bottom of the planters.

Imagine the swirling rush of water that goes down the drain when you empty the bathtub:.

If the containers lack drain holes in the bottom, drill them or ask the seller to do.

By the company's own admissions, that money has largely gone down the drain.

Blanch remaining four ounces bacon in boiling water for five minutes, drain, then rinse with cold water and drain again.

The work is a drain on college staff members, who usually juggle those duties with their regular workloads.

There is talk of reforming nursing-care insurance, which threatens to drain public finances as the population ages.

Drain and place one-third of that oil in a heavy-based frying pan, and sauté the slices of fennel over medium heat.

By legalizing all drugs you stop the drain that the war on drugs has on our.

It does drain the battery slower than the transmissive mode, though.

Approximately three holes, each a quarter-inch in diameter, should be sufficient to drain a six-inch-diameter spot.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

drain (dreɪn)

—n
1.	a pipe or channel that carries off water, sewage, etc
2.	an instance or cause of continuous diminution in resources or energy; depletion
3.	surgery a device, such as a tube, for insertion into a wound, incision, or bodily cavity to drain off pus, etc
4.	electronics the electrode region in a field-effect transistor into which majority carriers flow from the interelectrode conductivity channel
5.	down the drain wasted

—vb (often foll by off) (often foll by away)
6.	to draw off or remove (liquid) from: to drain water from vegetables; to drain vegetables
7.	to flow (away) or filter (off)
8.	(intr) to dry or be emptied as a result of liquid running off or flowing away: leave the dishes to drain
9.	(tr) to drink the entire contents of (a glass, cup, etc)
10.	(tr) to consume or make constant demands on (resources, energy, etc); exhaust; sap
11.	(intr) to disappear or leave, esp gradually: the colour drained from his face
12.	(tr) (of a river, etc) to carry off the surface water from (an area)
13.	(intr) (of an area) to discharge its surface water into rivers, streams, etc

[Old English drēahnian; related to Old Norse drangr dry wood; see dry]

'drainable

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

drain

O.E. dreahnian, from P.Gmc. *draug-, source of "drought, dry," giving the English word originally a sense of "make dry." Figurative meaning of "exhaust" is attested from 1650s. Related: Drained; draining. The noun is from 1550s.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

drain (drān)
n.
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. v. drained, drain·ing, drains
To draw off a liquid gradually as it forms.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

drain definition

jargon
(IBM) To allow a system to complete the processing of its current work before the system becomes unavailable. E.g. draining a device before taking it off-line or telling a web server in a server farm not to accept any new requests but to finish processing any requests it has already accepted.
[Jargon File]
(2005-07-18)

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

drain

see brain drain; down the drain.

Partners:Word Bloglines Citysearch The Daily Beast Ask Answers Ask Kids Life123 Sendori Thesaurus

About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help