draining

Pluraldrainings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of drain.

   Rainwater was draining off the roof and into the gutters.

   Color was draining from her face as she read the letter.

   Note

   The -ing form builds progressive tenses on both sides of the verb: the bath is draining, she is draining the bath. Drain is ergative, so the container can be subject or object without any change of form. When the object is a person and energy is what flows away, the verb comes close to the use behind the adjective for exhausting work.

2. 2
   adjective

   Causing a loss of energy or resources to the point of exhaustion.

   The negotiations dragged on for weeks and proved utterly draining.

   He stepped back from a draining role that had consumed his evenings.

   Similarexhausting, tiring, tiresome, fatiguing, wearing

   Oppositeenergizing, refreshing, invigorating, restful

   Note

   Most at home after a verb, usually with an intensifier: the work was very draining, a process he finds very draining. Find something draining is a natural frame for it. Wearing is its closest neighbor and describes the same slow loss of strength. Tiresome leans toward irritation or boredom rather than fatigue.

3. 3
   adjective

   Designed or used for drainage; intended to carry liquid away.

   The field's draining pipes had clogged with silt over the winter.

   Engineers inspected the draining culvert beneath the new road.

   Note

   A modifier that sits before the name of equipment: a draining wheel, a draining machine, a draining rack, a draining ledge. It cannot be graded, since nothing is more draining in this sense, which is the quickest way to tell it from the "exhausting" adjective. Its home is practical writing, from Henry Stephens's A Manual of practical Draining (1847) to Edwin L. Kappel's 1960 patent for a paint-can brush rest.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   The process of emptying something of its liquid contents.

   A careful draining of the radiator prevented the engine from freezing.

   Two separate drainings were needed before the cistern was fully clear.

   Similaremptying, drainage

   Oppositefilling

5. 5
   nouncountable

   The liquid removed from something by drainage.

   He stirred the drainings from the canned beans into the stew to thicken it.

   The drainings from the wine press were tested for sugar content.

   Similarrunoff

   Note

   A noun that normally appears in the plural: the drainings from a can, a pan or a press, much as one speaks of leavings or scrapings. The singular is possible but unusual. The plural here names the liquid itself, while the plural of the act of emptying counts separate occasions.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   The activity of exploring drains, tunnels, and sewers.

   Draining had become his obsession after one trip beneath the old waterworks.

   They spent the long weekend draining under the disused railway yard.

Showing meanings only. Show all 6