To draw off gradually, as a liquid; remove or convey away by degrees, as through conduits, by filtration, or by any comparable process: as, to drain water from land, wine from the lees, or blood from the body; to drain away the specie of a country.
To free, clear, or deprive by degrees, as of a liquid; empty or exhaust gradually: as, to drain land of water (the most familiar use of the word); to drain a vessel of its contents; to drain a country of its resources.
To flow off gradually.
To be gradually emptied, as of a liquid: as, the cask slowly drains.
noun.
The act of draining or drawing off, or of emptying by drawing off; gradual or continuous outflow, withdrawal, or expenditure.
noun.
That which drains, or by means of which draining is immediately effected.
noun.
Specifically— A passage, pipe, or open channel for the removal of water or other liquid; especially, a pipe or channel for removing the surplus water from soils. Drains may be open ditches or sunken pipes or conduits. Those for wet lands are so made as to permit the percolation into them of water from the adjacent soil, as by the use in a covered conduit of porous earthen pipes or tiles, or of a filling of small stones, of an open cut where there is a sufficient slope, etc. See sewer.
noun.
The trench in which the melted metal flows from a furnace to the molds
noun.
In surgery, a hollow sound or canula used to draw off purulent matter from a deep seated abscess.
noun.
Pl. The grain from the mash-tub: distinctively called brewers' drains.
noun.
In ship-building, a large pipe which runs through or above the double bottom of a war-ship and is connected with the principal pumps to remove water from the various compartments.