drown

drown
[[t]dra͟ʊn[/t]]
drowns, drowning, drowned
1) V-ERG When someone drowns or is drowned, they die because they have gone or been pushed under water and cannot breathe.

Forty-eight people have drowned after their boat capsized during a storm...

A child can drown in only a few inches of water...

[be V-ed] Last night a boy was drowned in the river...

[V pron-refl] He walked into the sea and drowned himself...

[V-ing] Dolphins have sometimes been known to save drowning swimmers. [Also V n]

2) VERB (emphasis) If you say that a person or thing is drowning in something, you are emphasizing that they have a very large amount of it, or are completely covered in it.

[V in n] We were drowning in data but starved of information.

[V in n] ...people who gradually find themselves drowning in debt...

[be V-ed] The potatoes were drowned in chilli.

Syn:
3) VERB If something drowns a sound, it is so loud that you cannot hear that sound properly.

[V n] Clapping drowned the speaker's words for a moment...

[V n] The conversation was drowned by the arrival of the taxi.

Drown out means the same as drown.

V P n (not pron) Their cheers drowned out the protests of demonstrators... Also V n P V P n (not pron) Her voice was drowned out by a loud crash.

4) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone is drowning their sorrows, you mean that they are drinking alcohol in order to forget something sad or upsetting that has happened to them.

English dictionary. 2008.

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Synonyms:
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • drown — [draun] v [Date: 1200 1300; Origin: Probably from a Scandinavian language] 1.) [I and T] to die from being under water for too long, or to kill someone in this way ▪ Many people drowned when the boat overturned. ▪ Jane was drowned in the river.… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • drown´er — drown «drown», intransitive verb. to die under water or other liquid because of lack of air to breathe: »The fisherman almost drowned when his boat overturned. –v.t. 1. to kill by keeping under water or other liquid: »The flood drowned all the… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Drown — Drown, v. t. 1. To overwhelm in water; to submerge; to inundate. They drown the land. Dryden. [1913 Webster] 2. To deprive of life by immersion in water or other liquid. [1913 Webster] 3. To overpower; to overcome; to extinguish; said especially… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • drown — [ draun ] verb ** 1. ) intransitive to sink under water and die: He fell overboard and nearly drowned. a ) transitive to kill someone by pushing them under water 2. ) transitive to cover something completely with a liquid, especially in a way… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • drown — ► VERB 1) die or kill through submersion in water. 2) submerge or flood (an area). 3) (usu. drown out) make inaudible by being much louder. ● drown one s sorrows Cf. ↑drown one s sorrows ORIG …   English terms dictionary

  • Drown — Drown, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Drowned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Drowning}.] [OE. drunen, drounen, earlier drunknen, druncnien, AS. druncnian to be drowned, sink, become drunk, fr. druncen drunken. See {Drunken}, {Drink}.] To be suffocated in water or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • drown — [droun] vi. [ME drounen, prob. < var. of ON drukna, drown, akin to OE druncnian, to become drunk, be drowned < druncen, pp. of drincan, DRINK] to die by suffocation in water or other liquid vt. 1. to kill by suffocation in water or other… …   English World dictionary

  • drown — drau̇n vb, drowned drau̇nd drown·ing drau̇ niŋ vi 1) to suffocate in water or some other liquid 2) to suffocate because of excess of body fluid that interferes with the passage of oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues (as in pulmonary edema)… …   Medical dictionary

  • drown — drown; drown·proof·ing; …   English syllables

  • drown — index immerse (plunge into), overcome (overwhelm), stifle Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • drown — (v.) c.1300, trans. and intrans., perhaps from an unrecorded derivative word of O.E. druncnian (M.E. druncnen) be swallowed up by water (originally of ships as well as living things), probably from the base of drincan to drink. Modern form is… …   Etymology dictionary

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