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go down the drain

go down the drain
G g

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [goh doun stressed th ee dreyn]
    • /goʊ daʊn stressed ði dreɪn/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [goh doun stressed th ee dreyn]
    • /goʊ daʊn stressed ði dreɪn/

Definitions of go down the drain words

  • verb with object go down the drain to withdraw or draw off (a liquid) gradually; remove slowly or by degrees, as by filtration: to drain oil from a crankcase. 1
  • verb with object go down the drain to withdraw liquid gradually from; make empty or dry by drawing off liquid: to drain a crankcase. 1
  • verb with object go down the drain to exhaust the resources of: to drain the treasury. 1
  • verb with object go down the drain to deprive of strength; tire. 1
  • verb without object go down the drain to flow off gradually. 1
  • verb without object go down the drain to become empty or dry by the gradual flowing off of liquid or moisture: This land drains into the Mississippi. 1
See all 13 definitions of go down the drain

Information block about the term

Origin of go down the drain

First appearance:

before 1000
One of the 6% oldest English words
before 1000; Middle English dreynen, Old English drēhnian, drēahnian to strain, filter; akin to dry

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Go down the drain

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Go down the drain

go down the drain popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 94% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

go down the drain usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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