DRAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does drain mean? 

• DRAIN (noun)
  The noun DRAIN has 4 senses:

1. emptying something accomplished by allowing liquid to run out of it

2. tube inserted into a body cavity (as during surgery) to remove unwanted material

3. a pipe through which liquid is carried away

4. a gradual depletion of energy or resources

  Familiarity information: DRAIN used as a noun is uncommon.

• DRAIN (verb)
  The verb DRAIN has 4 senses:

1. flow off gradually

2. deplete of resources

3. empty of liquid; drain the liquid from

4. make weak

  Familiarity information: DRAIN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRAIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Emptying something accomplished by allowing liquid to run out of it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

drain; drainage

Hypernyms ("drain" is a kind of...):

emptying; evacuation; voidance (the act of removing the contents of something)

Derivation:

drain (empty of liquid; drain the liquid from)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tube inserted into a body cavity (as during surgery) to remove unwanted material

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("drain" is a kind of...):

tube; tubing (conduit consisting of a long hollow object (usually cylindrical) used to hold and conduct objects or liquids or gases)

Domain category:

surgery (the branch of medical science that treats disease or injury by operative procedures)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A pipe through which liquid is carried away

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

drain; drainpipe; waste pipe

Hypernyms ("drain" is a kind of...):

pipage; pipe; piping (a long tube made of metal or plastic that is used to carry water or oil or gas etc.)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drain"):

culvert (a transverse and totally enclosed drain under a road or railway)

scupper (drain that allows water on the deck of a vessel to flow overboard)

cloaca; sewer; sewerage (a waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water)

soil pipe (drain that conveys liquid waste from toilets, etc.)

trap (drain consisting of a U-shaped section of drainpipe that holds liquid and so prevents a return flow of sewer gas)

Derivation:

drain (empty of liquid; drain the liquid from)

drain (flow off gradually)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A gradual depletion of energy or resources

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

a drain of young talent by emigration

Hypernyms ("drain" is a kind of...):

depletion (the act of decreasing something markedly)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drain"):

drawing; drawing off (act of getting or draining something such as electricity or a liquid from a source)

brain drain (depletion or loss of intellectual and technical personnel)

Derivation:

drain (deplete of resources)

• DRAIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they drain    ... he / she / it drains   
Past simple: drained   
Past participle: drained   
-ing form: draining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Flow off gradually

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

drain; run out

Context example:

The rain water drains into this big vat

Hypernyms (to "drain" is one way to...):

course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The water drains

Derivation:

drain (a pipe through which liquid is carried away)

drainage (emptying something accomplished by allowing liquid to run out of it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deplete of resources

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

The exercise class drains me of energy

Hypernyms (to "drain" is one way to...):

consume; deplete; eat; eat up; exhaust; run through; use up; wipe out (use up (resources or materials))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

drain (a gradual depletion of energy or resources)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Empty of liquid; drain the liquid from

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

We drained the oil tank

Hypernyms (to "drain" is one way to...):

empty (make void or empty of contents)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They drain the water

Derivation:

drain (emptying something accomplished by allowing liquid to run out of it)

drain (a pipe through which liquid is carried away)

drainage (emptying something accomplished by allowing liquid to run out of it)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make weak

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

debilitate; drain; enfeeble

Context example:

Life in the camp drained him

Hypernyms (to "drain" is one way to...):

weaken (lessen the strength of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "drain"):

emaciate; macerate; waste (cause to grow thin or weak)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to drain Sue

 Context examples 

Many lakes fill and drain rapidly, forcing the ice surface thousands of feet above them to rise and fall by as much as 20 feet (6 meters).

(Hot News from the Antarctic Underground, NASA)

A duct in the embryo draining the mesonephric tubules.

(Mesonephric Duct, NCI Thesaurus)

This tube also allows middle ear secretions to drain into the nasopharynx.

(Eustachian Tube, NCI Thesaurus)

“It is this filling and draining of lakes that causes the ice shelf to flex, and if the stresses are large enough, fractures might also develop.”

(Surface lakes cause Antarctic ice shelves to ‘flex’, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The study also revealed another major factor of this process: when the lakes drain, previously thawed organic-rich lake sediments refreeze.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

In primary open angle glaucoma, the most common type of glaucoma, fluid drains too slowly from a space in the front of the eye called the anterior chamber.

(Glaucoma-related genes revealed, NIH)

The researchers interpret the latter to be tributaries that drain into the main channels below.

(Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan, NASA)

A technique in which a hollow, flexible tube is used to drain body fluids or to introduce fluids into the body, or to examine or widen a narrowed vein or artery.

(Catheterization, NCI Thesaurus)

This may be done to drain urine from a blocked kidney or blocked ureter into a bag outside the body.

(Nephrostomy, NCI Dictionary)

Treatments may include draining the infection and antibiotics.

(MRSA, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)