Drain

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /dɹeɪn/

Definitions

1. To remove liquid from a container or area while diminishing the availability of resources or energy and to refer to a pipe or channel for disposing of excess water or waste liquids
2. Cause liquid to flow away from a container or location ; a conduit that directs unwanted water or waste away ; to reduce strength or resources gradually
3. Empty liquid out of a vessel or place ; a passage that carries off excess fluids ; to wear down energy or supplies over time

Etymology: The verb "drain" is a surprise for anyone who thinks of it as a plumbing word, because its core sense is about drying out rather than moving water away. Its ancestor in Old English, "drēahnian," meant to drain or dry, and it grew from a Germanic root that also produced "drūgian," to dry up, and "drȳġe," dry. The noun "drought" and the adjective "dry" come from the same family, so the word's first job was describing land and things losing their moisture. Over the centuries, the sense shifted from the act of drying to the act of removing liquid by letting it run off or out. Middle English speakers used the form "dreinen," which led to the modern spelling, and the meaning drifted toward the channel or outlet that carries the liquid away. That is why a drain can now be a pipe in a sink, a ditch in a field, or the hole in a bathtub.

Synonyms: empty, remove, deplete, exhaust, desiccate

Antonyms: fill, supply, pour, add, restore