drown

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

drown

(droun)

v. drowned, drown·ing, drowns

v.tr.

1. To kill by submerging and suffocating in water or another liquid.

2. To drench thoroughly or cover with or as if with a liquid.

3. To deaden one's awareness of; blot out: people who drowned their troubles in drink.

4. To muffle or mask (a sound) by a louder sound: screams that were drowned out by the passing train.

v.intr.

To die by suffocating in water or another liquid.

Idiom:

drown (one's) sorrow/sorrows

To try to forget one's troubles by drinking alcohol.

[Middle English drounen, probably of Scandinavian origin; see dhreg- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

drown

(draʊn)

1. to die or kill by immersion in liquid

2. (tr) to destroy or get rid of as if by submerging: he drowned his sorrows in drink.

3. (tr) to drench thoroughly; inundate; flood

4. (sometimes foll by: out) to render (a sound) inaudible by making a loud noise

[C13: probably from Old English druncnian; related to Old Norse drukna to be drowned]

ˈdrowner n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

drown

(draʊn)

v.i.

1. to die of suffocation under water or other liquid.

v.t.

2. to kill by submerging under water or other liquid.

3. to destroy or get rid of by immersion: to drown one's troubles in drink.

4. to flood or inundate with water or liquid; drench; soak.

5. to overwhelm so as to render inaudible, as by a louder sound (often fol. by out).

6. drown in,

a. to be overwhelmed by.

b. to be covered with or enveloped in.

[1250–1300; Middle English drounnen, Old English druncnian]

drown′er, n.

drown

When someone drowns, they die because their head is under water and they cannot breathe. You can either say that someone drowns or that they are drowned. There is no difference in meaning.

She had fallen into the sea and drowned.

They jumped in the river and were drowned.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

drown

Past participle: drowned
Gerund: drowning

Imperative
drown
drown

Present
I drown
you drown
he/she/it drowns
we drown
you drown
they drown

Preterite
I drowned
you drowned
he/she/it drowned
we drowned
you drowned
they drowned

Present Continuous
I am drowning
you are drowning
he/she/it is drowning
we are drowning
you are drowning
they are drowning

Present Perfect
I have drowned
you have drowned
he/she/it has drowned
we have drowned
you have drowned
they have drowned

Past Continuous
I was drowning
you were drowning
he/she/it was drowning
we were drowning
you were drowning
they were drowning

Past Perfect
I had drowned
you had drowned
he/she/it had drowned
we had drowned
you had drowned
they had drowned

Future
I will drown
you will drown
he/she/it will drown
we will drown
you will drown
they will drown

Future Perfect
I will have drowned
you will have drowned
he/she/it will have drowned
we will have drowned
you will have drowned
they will have drowned

Future Continuous
I will be drowning
you will be drowning
he/she/it will be drowning
we will be drowning
you will be drowning
they will be drowning

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been drowning
you have been drowning
he/she/it has been drowning
we have been drowning
you have been drowning
they have been drowning

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been drowning
you will have been drowning
he/she/it will have been drowning
we will have been drowning
you will have been drowning
they will have been drowning

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been drowning
you had been drowning
he/she/it had been drowning
we had been drowning
you had been drowning
they had been drowning

Conditional
I would drown
you would drown
he/she/it would drown
we would drown
you would drown
they would drown

Past Conditional
I would have drowned
you would have drowned
he/she/it would have drowned
we would have drowned
you would have drowned
they would have drowned

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Verb	1.	drown - cover completely or make imperceptible; "I was drowned in work"; "The noise drowned out her speech" submerge, overwhelm spread over, cover - form a cover over; "The grass covered the grave" drown out - make imperceptible; "The noise from the ice machine drowned out the music"
	2.	drown - get rid of as if by submerging; "She drowned her trouble in alcohol" do away with, eliminate, get rid of, extinguish - terminate, end, or take out; "Let's eliminate the course on Akkadian hieroglyphics"; "Socialism extinguished these archaic customs"; "eliminate my debts"
	3.	drown - die from being submerged in water, getting water into the lungs, and asphyxiating; "The child drowned in the lake" croak, decease, die, drop dead, buy the farm, cash in one's chips, give-up the ghost, kick the bucket, pass away, perish, snuff it, pop off, expire, conk, exit, choke, go, pass - pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life; "She died from cancer"; "The children perished in the fire"; "The patient went peacefully"; "The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102"
	4.	drown - kill by submerging in water; "He drowned the kittens" kill - cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly; "This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank"; "The farmer killed a pig for the holidays"
	5.	drown - be covered with or submerged in a liquid; "the meat was swimming in a fatty gravy" swim be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer"

drown

verb

1. go down, go under, go to a watery grave, go to Davy Jones's locker, die under water He drowned during a storm.

2. drench, flood, soak, steep, swamp, saturate, engulf, submerge, immerse, inundate, deluge the country would be drowned in blood

3. overwhelm, overcome, wipe out, overpower, obliterate, swallow up, be louder than His words were soon drowned by amplified police sirens.

Quotations
"I was much farther out than you thought"
"And not waving but drowning" [Stevie Smith Not Waving But Drowning]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

drown

verb

To flow over completely:

deluge, engulf, flood, flush, inundate, overflow, overwhelm, submerge, whelm.

Translations

يَغْرَقُيَكْتُمُ الصَّوْتغرق

utopitpřekrýt

drukneoverdøve

ertrinken ertränken übertönen

πνίγομαι πνίγω

ahogar ahogarse

hukkuahukuttaahukuttautuapeittääupottaa

noyer se noyer nier noyé

utopiti se

elfojtvízbe fullad v. fojt

drukkna; drekkjayfirgnæfa

affogare annegare coprire inondare

溺死する

익사하다

nuskandintinuskęstinustelbtiskandintiskęsti

apslāpētnoslīcinātnoslīktslīkt

тонуть топить утонуть утопить заглушать

prehlušiťutopiť

utopiti se

drunknadränka

จมน้ำ

bastırmakboğ makboğmak suda boğulmak

chết đuối

淹没溺死溺水

drown

[draʊn]

A. VT

1. [+ people, animals] → ahogar; [+ land] → inundar
to drown o.s → ahogarse
a boy was drowned here yesterday → un chico se ahogó ayer aquí
like a drowned rat → calado hasta los huesos

2. (also drown out) [+ sound] → ahogar
his cries were drowned by the noise of the waves → sus gritos se perdieron en el estruendo de las olas
see also sorrow A

B. VI → ahogarse, perecer ahogado
a boy drowned here yesterday → un chico se ahogó or pereció ahogado ayer aquí

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

drown

[ˈdraʊn]

(= kill) → noyer
to be drowned [+ person, animal] → se noyer
to drown one's sorrows (= drink a lot) → noyer son chagrin

(also drown out) [+ sound] → couvrir

vi (= die) → se noyer
A boy drowned here yesterday → Un garçon s'est noyé ici hier.

drown

vi → ertrinken

person, animal → ertränken; to be drowned → ertrinken; he looks like a drowned rat (inf) → er sieht wie eine gebadete Maus aus (inf); to drown one’s sorrows (in drink) → seine Sorgen (im Alkohol) ertränken; to drown one’s whisky → seinen Whisky verwässern

(= submerge, flood) land → überschwemmen, überfluten

(= render inaudible: also drown out) noise, voice → übertönen; speaker → niederschreien

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

drown

[draʊn]

1. vt (people, animals) → affogare, annegare; (land) → allagare (also drown out) (sound) → coprire
you look like a drowned rat (fam) → sei tutto fradicio!

2. vi (also to be drowned) → annegare, affogare

drown

(draun) verb

1. to (cause to) sink in water and so suffocate and die. He drowned in the river; He tried to drown the cat.

2. to cause (a sound) not to be heard by making a louder sound. His voice was drowned by the roar of the traffic.

drown

→ يَغْرَقُ utopit (se) drukne ertrinken πνίγω ahogar hukkua se noyer utopiti se affogare 溺死する 익사하다 verdrinken drukne utopić się afogar тонуть drunkna จมน้ำ suda boğulmak chết đuối 溺水

drown

v. ahogar; anegar; sumergir; sofocar; ahogarse.

drown

vt, vi ahogar(se)

References in classic literature ?

I still doubted whether it would be possible for such a swimmer as I was to drown himself.

View in context

It seemed a prompt good way of weeding out people that had got stalled, and a plenty good enough way for those others; so I hunted up the two boys and said, "They went out back one night to stone the cat and fell down the well and got drowned." Next I searched around and found old Aunt Patsy and Aunt Betsy Hale where they were around, and said, "They went out back one night to visit the sick and fell down the well and got drowned." I was going to drown some others, but I gave up the idea, partly because I believed that if I kept that up it would arose attention, and perhaps sympathy with those people, and partly because it was not a large well and would not hold any more anyway.

View in context

They both shouted together, as if to drown my voice; and behind them lowered the staring faces of the Beast Men, wondering, their deformed hands hanging down, their shoulders hunched up.

View in context

He jumped into the pond to drown himself once and then changed his mind and swum out again.

View in context

As he stuck his head out once more, the poor fellow's eyes were bulging and he barked out wildly, "I drown! I drown!"

View in context

Having repeated them several times with various intonations, she sprang into the water, where she was suffered to drown.

View in context

I am very much afraid they threw him into the sea and drowned him."

View in context

Some of the horses were drowned and some of the men; the others tried to swim on, some in the saddle and some clinging to their horses' manes.

View in context

He went on listening, and gathered by odds and ends that it was conjectured at first that the boys had got drowned while taking a swim; then the small raft had been missed; next, certain boys said the missing lads had promised that the village should "hear some- thing" soon; the wise-heads had "put this and that together" and decided that the lads had gone off on that raft and would turn up at the next town below, presently; but toward noon the raft had been found, lodged against the Missouri shore some five or six miles below the village -- and then hope perished; they must be drowned, else hunger would have driven them home by nightfall if not sooner.

View in context

For weeks after the storm the north shore was strewn with the bodies of drowned men.

View in context

Their father, Matthias Bede, was drowned in the Willow Brook last night, not far from his own door.

View in context

I've been brought out o' drowning, and I can't be drowned. I wouldn't have that there busted B'lowbridger aware on it, or her people might make it tell agin' the damages I mean to get.