/dɹaʊn/, [d̠͡ɹ̠˔ʷaʊn], /dɹuːn/
OriginFrom Middle English drownen, drounen, drunen (“to drown”), of obscure and uncertain origin.
The OED suggests an unattested Old English form *drūnian. Harper 2001 points to Old English druncnian, ġedruncnian (> Middle English drunknen, dronknen (“to drown”)), "probably influenced" by Old Norse drukkna (cf. Icelandic drukkna, Danish drukne (“to drown”)). Funk & Wagnall's has 'of uncertain origin'. It has been theorised (see e.g. ODS) that it may represent a direct loan of Old Norse drukkna, but this is described by the OED as being "on phonetic and other grounds [...] highly improbable", unless one considers the possibility of an unattested variant in Old Norse *drunkna.
- intransitiveTo die from suffocation while immersed in water or other fluid.
“When I was a baby, I nearly drowned in the bathtub.”
“Old woes, not infant sorrows, bear them mild / Continuance tames the one; the other wild, / Like an unpractised swimmer plunging still, / With too much labour drowns for want of skill.”
- transitiveTo kill by suffocating in water or another liquid.
“The car thief fought with an officer and tried to drown a police dog before being shot while escaping.”
“The pretty-vaulting sea refused to drown me, / Knowing that thou wouldst have me drown’d on shore, / With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness:”
- intransitiveTo be flooded: to be inundated with or submerged in (literally) water or (figuratively) other things; to be overwhelmed.
“We are drowning in information but starving for wisdom.”
“Penny Guy: Bloody hell, Rog, whadda you want? / Roger O'Neill: To drown in your arms and hide in yer eyes, darlin'.”
“The first-century Jewish woman Miriam of Nazareth, also held in faith to be Theotokos, the God-bearer, is arguably the most celebrated woman in the Christian tradition. One could almost drown surveyin”
- figuratively, transitiveTo inundate, submerge, overwhelm.
“He drowns his sorrows in buckets of chocolate ice cream.”
“Though most men being in sensuall pleasures drownd, / It seemes their Soules but in the Senses are.”
“Come, thou monarch of the vine, / Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne! / In thy fats our cares be drown’d, / With thy grapes our hairs be crown’d:”
- figuratively, transitiveTo obscure, particularly amid an overwhelming volume of other items.
“The answers intelligence services seek are often drowned in the flood of information they can now gather.”
Formsdrowns(present, singular, third-person) · drowning(participle, present) · drowned(participle, past) · drowned(past) · Drowns(plural)
Source: Wiktionary