DRAIN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Drain

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/dreɪn/ Listen

noun

Drain n.

1.

The act of draining, or of drawing off; gradual and continuous outflow or withdrawal; as, the drain of specie from a country; the project is a drain on resources.

2.

That means of which anything is drained; a channel; a trench; a water course; a sewer; a sink.

3.

pl. The grain from the mashing tub; as, brewers' drains. (Eng.)

Box drain, Counter drain. See under Box, Counter.

Right of drain (Law), an easement or servitude by which one man has a right to convey water in pipes through or over the estate of another.

verb

Drain v. t. (past & past part. drained; pres. part. draining)

1.

To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to cause the exhaustion of. "Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent." "But it was not alone that the he drained their treasure and hampered their industry."

2.

To exhaust of liquid contents by drawing them off; to make gradually dry or empty; to remove surface water, as from streets, by gutters, etc.; to deprive of moisture; hence, to exhaust; to empty of wealth, resources, or the like; as, to drain a country of its specie. "Sinking waters, the firm land to drain, Filled the capacious deep and formed the main."

3.

To filter. "Salt water, drained through twenty vessels of earth, hath become fresh."

Drain v. i.

1.

To flow gradually; as, the water of low ground drains off.

2.

To become emptied of liquor by flowing or dropping; as, let the vessel stand and drain.

See images of 'Drain'

Etymology of 'Drain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Drain" Quotes from Famous Books

... Drain off the superfluous juice from the cherries. Add the hot water to the sugar in a preserving kettle, and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Add the cherries and boil for 10 or 12 minutes. Have hot sterilized jelly glasses ready and fill with the hot preserves. Allow the preserves to cool, ...

— Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5 • Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

... place. As it was in the days of Brian Boroihme and the Danes, so it was in the days of Shane O'Neill and Sir Nicholas Arnold; and the Queen, who was to found all these fine institutions, cared chiefly to burden her exchequer no further in the vain effort to drain the black Irish morass, fed as it was from the perennial fountains ...

— The Land-War In Ireland (1870) - A History For The Times • James Godkin

... been supported by the authorities, it would have been easy to take down dividing walls to get sufficient space. Miss Maufe gave herself and her income for about twelve years, but difficulties created by the war, the impossibility of finding efficient help and consequent drain upon her own strength have forced her to close her little school, to the grief of the mothers in 48 Ruskin Buildings. Another Sesame House student, Miss L. Hardy, in her charming Diary of a Free Kindergarten, takes us from London to Edinburgh, but the first ...

— The Child Under Eight • E.R. Murray and Henrietta Brown Smith

... where the tiny lake lay as peaceful as a sleeping child. With hands upon his hips, he gazed into the waters and smiled. Then he gave his orders and for many weeks the eager soldiers dug and sweated in the sun under the direction of the shrewdest engineers of the age in the attempt to drain the lake. An outlet was finally made and the lake sunk foot by foot while the trusting folk below made their prayers and waited. The answer came. One day when Quesada saw the treasure almost within his grasp, there was a mighty rumbling, a crash of falling stone, and ...

— The Web of the Golden Spider • Frederick Orin Bartlett

... and tissues and carry them to the liver, the kidneys, the lungs, and the skin, where they can be burned up and got rid of. We must keep our bodies well flushed with water, just as we should keep a free current of water flowing through our drain-pipes and sewers. ...

— A Handbook of Health • Woods Hutchinson

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