drown
/draʊn
/- Police and firefighters saved a motorist from drowning after his car left the road and plunged into a water-filled ditch yesterday.
- Yeah, when we did the stuff in the water, I almost drowned.
- It is said that one night after a bout of heavy drinking, Li Bai plunged into a pool to catch the moon reflected in the water and drowned.
Synonyms
- Asked to carry the scorpion across the river the rat agrees reluctantly, his insurance being the promise that his passenger is unlikely to sting as that will kill the rat and drown him.
- They were calling for the killing to start immediately, by drowning the sheep if necessary.
- He also shot the family dog and drowned her puppies.
- During the nineteenth century alone, floods drowned low areas in 1861, 1876, and 1894.
- First, it is an ecological area and the member needs to decide whether he thinks drowning ecological areas is a plausible idea.
- In 1979 he inspired the farmers of Uttara Kannada to oppose a dam that would have drowned their holdings and taken much forest with it.
Synonyms
- But our laughter is drowned out by the sound of cutlery hitting the table.
- The laughter from the barracks was soon drowned out by the sound of Jasmine's angry footsteps on the ground as she entered the garden.
- I could hear lots of popping and crackling sounds but it was quite relaxing, as other sounds were drowned out and I just had to lie there.
Synonyms
- He was completely drowned in the picture, his deep concentration becoming almost meditation.
- He had nearly drowned in the sudden wave of sheer bliss and contentment that overwhelmed him.
- He felt the waves of despair and overwhelming anguish that radiated until her fury drowned in the sadness.
- It is not eight inches thick and drowned in tomato sauce sweet enough to rot your teeth, either.
Phrases
drown one's sorrows
like a drowned rat
Origin
Middle English (originally northern): related to Old Norse drukkna 'to be drowned', also to drink.
Although it makes its first appearance in the Middle Ages, drown probably existed in Old English. It was originally a northern English form, and is related to the old Scandinavian word drukkna ‘to be drowned’, which comes from the same root as drink, in which people sometimes drown their sorrows. The idea that a drowning man will clutch at a straw has been expressed since the 16th century. Before the 20th century the proverb involved ‘catching’ at straws: clutch adds a vivid sense of desperation. ‘ Not waving but drowning’ is the title of a 1957 poem by the English poet and novelist Stevie Smith (1902–71): ‘I was much too far out all my life / And not waving but drowning.’ Smith also popularized the phrase ‘A good time was had by all’, which was the title of a collection of poems in 1937.