DRENCH

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does drench mean? 

• DRENCH (verb)
  The verb DRENCH has 4 senses:

1. drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged

2. force to drink

3. permeate or impregnate

4. cover with liquid; pour liquid onto

  Familiarity information: DRENCH used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRENCH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they drench    ... he / she / it drenches   
Past simple: drenched   
Past participle: drenched   
-ing form: drenching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

drench; swamp

Context example:

The tsunami swamped every boat in the harbor

Hypernyms (to "drench" is one way to...):

flood (cover with liquid, usually water)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Force to drink

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "drench" is one way to...):

cater; ply; provide; supply (give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance)

Cause:

drink; imbibe (take in liquids)

Domain category:

animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Permeate or impregnate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

drench; imbrue

Context example:

The war drenched the country in blood

Hypernyms (to "drench" is one way to...):

impregnate; saturate (infuse or fill completely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody with something

Sentence example:

The waters drench the area

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cover with liquid; pour liquid onto

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

douse; dowse; drench; soak; sop; souse

Context example:

souse water on his hot face

Hypernyms (to "drench" is one way to...):

wet (cause to become wet)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "drench"):

brine (soak in brine)

bedraggle; draggle (make wet and dirty, as from rain)

bate (soak in a special solution to soften and remove chemicals used in previous treatments)

ret (place (flax, hemp, or jute) in liquid so as to promote loosening of the fibers from the woody tissue)

flush; sluice (irrigate with water from a sluice)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They drench the cloth with water and alcohol

 Context examples 

Features commonly associated with lymphoma, including fever above 38C, drenching night sweats, and weight loss of more than 10% of body mass in the previous 6 months.

(B-Symptoms, NCI Thesaurus)

The whole bed would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Next he attempted the tiny front porch, until a howling southeaster drenched the wheel a night-long.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

While the rain descends so, must I lay my head on the cold, drenched ground?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was a scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on fire—her ladyship’s dog, to make the matter worse—and that was only hushed up with difficulty.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My clothes were all sodden with dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded thumb.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured from a black and comfortless sky.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The other three took complete headers, and came up again drenched and bubbling.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Now she remembered the little umbrella, which she had forgotten to take in her hurry to be off, but regret was unavailing, and nothing could be done but borrow one or submit to a drenching.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He heard mutters of amazement at the ghastly damage wrought, and was drenched with his own blood.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)