Meaning of drain in English

drain

verb

/dreɪn/ us

/dreɪn/

drain verb (REMOVE LIQUID)

If you drain something, you remove the liquid from it, usually by pouring it away or allowing it to flow away, and if something drains, liquid flows away or out of it:

Drain the pasta thoroughly.

We drained the pond and filled it with fresh water.

Drain (off) any liquid that is left in the rice.

Don't bother drying the pans - just leave them to drain.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to remove liquid from something

dryCan you dry the dishes for me?
dry something upCan you dry up the plates for me?
dry (someone/something) offLet me dry the chairs off before you sit down.
blotI blotted the spilled wine with a cloth.
towelShe stepped out of the pool and towelled her hair.

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[ T ]

If you drain a glass or cup, you drink all the liquid in it.

More examplesFewer examples

They dug deep channels to drain the water from the fields.
That's just the sound of the water draining out of the sink.
You don't need to drain the rice, you see. It has absorbed all the water.
This entire region is drained by the Danube delta.
If there isn't a hole in the bottom of the plant pot, the water can't drain out.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Taking things away from someone or somewhere

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Removing and extracting

Emptying

drain verb (MAKE TIRED)

C2 [ T ]

to make someone very tired:

The long journey completely drained me.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Tired and making tired

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drain verb (REDUCE)

C2 [ I or T ]

to reduce or cause something to reduce:

The long war had drained the resources of both countries.

War drains a nation of its youth and its wealth (= uses them until they are gone).

[ I ]

If the blood/colour drains from your face, or if your face drains (of blood/colour), you turn very pale, often because you are shocked or ill:

The colour drained from his face/cheeks when they told him the results.

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Becoming and making smaller or less

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The skin, & skin colour

Phrasal verb

drain (something) away

drain

noun

/dreɪn/ us

/dreɪn/

drain noun (PIPE)

C2 [ C ]

a pipe or channel that is used to carry away waste matter and water from a building, or an opening in the road that rain water can flow down:

I think the kitchen drain is blocked.

She accidentally dropped her ring down a drain in the road.

drains [ plural ] UK

the system of pipes, openings in the ground, or other devices that are used for carrying away waste matter and water:

There was an unpleasant smell coming from the drains.

[ C ] US

(UK plughole)

a hole in a bath, sink, etc. through which water flows away and into which you can put a plug

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More examplesFewer examples

Leaves are clogging up the drain.
Two kids were poking a stick into the drain.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Building: plumbing, pipes & sewage

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Bathroom fixtures & fittings

drain noun (MAKE TIRED)

[ S ]

something that makes you feel very tired:

I think taking care of her elderly mother is a big drain on her energy.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Tired and making tired

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drain noun (REDUCE)

C2 [ S ]

something that uses more of your energy, money, or time than you want to give:

Having a big mortgage is a real drain on your earnings.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Becoming and making smaller or less

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(Definition of drain from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

drain | American Dictionary

drain

verb [ I/T ]

/dreɪn/

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to allow or cause liquid to flow away from something:

[ I ] Wash the lettuce in the sink and let it drain.

[ T ] Drain the lettuce and then pat it dry with paper towels.

If something drains you, it makes you very tired:

[ T ] It drains you to work with a class of 20 four-year-olds, let me tell you.

drain

noun [ C ]

/dreɪn/

a pipe or channel that carries away waste water or other liquids:

She spilled some sugar in the sink and washed it down the drain.

Something that is a drain on you takes away a lot of your energy and makes you tired:

Taking care of his sick mother was quite a drain on him.

If something is a drain on your money or something else, it uses a lot of it or makes it weaker:

Having two mortgages was a tremendous drain on their resources.

(Definition of drain from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

drain | Business English

drain

noun [ C, usually singular ]

/dreɪn/ us

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something that uses too much of your energy, money, or time:

Having a big mortgage is a real drain on your earnings.

Unexpected repairs to the building have been a huge drain on our financial resources.

The company's pension liability has become a cash drain.

down the drain informal

completely wasted or spoiled:

When the project was scrapped, all our efforts went down the drain.

People feel that renting property is money down the drain.

Examples of drain

drain

When the marshes were drained the new farmers chose to live on the embankments beside the canals and rivers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

She also took the view that it was not necessary to have individual access to water and drains.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

At much expense the farmers have drained these soils.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The pulmonary veins appeared to be draining normally.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The issues here are whether the land has laser grading, surface drains, and re-use system.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Enhancing the value of farmland by improving farm buildings or draining pasture was one incentive to keep or find tenants in hard years.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the south this could be because the wet-season monsoon waters had not yet drained away.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The pulmonary venous connections appeared totally anomalous and were thought to be draining beneath the diaphragm.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Isolated superior vena cava draining into the left atrium diagnosed by radionucleide angiography.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Venous blood is gravity drained into the reservoir bag and pumped to the heat exchanger/hollow fibre oxygenator structure.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Water-control features included aqueducts, drains, walled channels, dams, and a bridge.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Such work is of ten draining yet immensely rewarding f or the patient and therapist alike.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In short drains or under bridges they may be sometimes caught in hundreds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There is something brute about this conclusion which threatens to trivialise one's subject matter and seems capable of draining its meaningfulness at a single stroke.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Each sample was rinsed into a large container, the water was drained and all remaining material was preserved in 95% ethanol for subsequent sorting.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of drain

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with drain

drain

These are words often used in combination with drain.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

constant drain

They represented a constant drain on the national treasury's financial resources.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

drain cleaner

Eventually fell into a coma after being injected with drain cleaner, but woke up several months later.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

drain hole

He wakes them up by pulling the plug out of a drain hole in the boat.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

See all collocations with drain

What is the pronunciation of drain?

Translations of drain

in Chinese (Traditional)

去除液體, （使）排出，（使）排放，放乾（液體）, 喝光，喝完…

in Chinese (Simplified)

去除液体, （使）排出，（使）排放，放干（液体）, 喝光，喝完…

in Spanish

desaguar, desaguarse, colar…

in Portuguese

drenar, ralo, esvaziar…

in more languages

in Marathi

in Japanese

in Turkish

in French

in Catalan

in Dutch

in Tamil

in Hindi

in Gujarati

in Danish

in Swedish

in Malay

in German

in Norwegian

in Urdu

in Ukrainian

in Russian

in Telugu

in Arabic

in Bengali

in Czech

in Indonesian

in Thai

in Vietnamese

in Polish

in Korean

in Italian

काढून टाकणे, पिऊन संपवणे, थकून…

（液体）を流しだす, 水気を切る, ～が流れ出る…

suyunu çekmek/almak, suyu çekilerek kurumak, kurutmak…

se vider, s’écouler, assécher…

escórrer, escolar(-se), buidar(-se)…

droogleggen, weglopen, lozen…

நீங்கள் எதையாவது வடிகட்டினால், அதிலிருந்து திரவத்தை அகற்றுவீர்கள், வழக்கமாக அதை ஊற்றுவதன் மூலம் அல்லது அதை விட்டு வெளியேற அனுமதிப்பதன் மூலம்…

द्रव के निकल जाने पर सूखा हो जाना, छानना, (कप या गिलास से) पूरा पी लेना…

ઉલેચવું, નિતારવું, ખાલી કરવું…

dræne, tørlægge, løbe væk…

torrlägga, dränera, täckdika…

sedut keluar, mengalir, mengalir keluar…

entwässern, abfließen, (ab)tropfen…

tømme, tømmes, drenere…

نچوڑنا, خالی کرنا, چھاننا…

осушувати, стікати, сушити…

осушать, сливать воду, осушаться…

మీరు ఏదైనా తీసివేస్తే, మీరు దాని నుండి ద్రవాన్ని తీసివేస్తారు, సాధారణంగా దానిని పోయడం ద్వారా లేక అది ప్రవహించటానికి అనుమతించడం ద్వారా…

يُصَفّي (من الماء), يُجَفِّف, يَجِفّ…

জল বা তরল নিষ্কাশন করা, একটি গ্লাস বা কাপের সমস্ত তরল পান করা।, ক্লান্ত বোধ করা…

odvodnit, odtékat, (od)kapat…

mengeringkan, mengalir, meminum semua…

ระบายออก, ไหลออกไป, ถ่ายน้ำออก…

thoát nước, rút nước, làm ráo nước…

odcedzać, odsączać, osuszać…

액체를 걸러 빼 내다, 액체가 흘러 나가다, 배수관…

colare, scolare, sgocciolare…

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dragonfly

dragoon

dragoon someone into something

dragster

drain

drain (something) away

drainage

drainage basin

drainboard

Meaning of drain in English

drain verb (REMOVE LIQUID)

drain verb (MAKE TIRED)

drain verb (REDUCE)

Phrasal verb

drain noun (PIPE)

drain noun (MAKE TIRED)

drain noun (REDUCE)

drain | American Dictionary

drain | Business English

See also

Examples of drain

Collocations with drain

drain

Translations of drain

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