different between purge vs drain

English

Etymology

From Middle English purgen, from Old French purgier, from Latin p?rg? (“I make pure, I cleanse”), from p?rus (“clean, pure”) + ag? (“I make, I do”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /p?d?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??d?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d?

Noun

purge (plural purges)

1. An act of purging.
2. (medicine) An evacuation of the bowels or a vomiting.
3. A cleansing of pipes.
4. A forcible removal of people, for example, from political activity.

   Stalin liked to ensure that his purges were not reversible.

5. That which purges; especially, a medicine that evacuates the intestines; a cathartic.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Arbuthnot to this entry?)

Derived terms

• Great Purge

Related terms

Translations

Verb

purge (third-person singular simple present purges, present participle purging, simple past and past participle purged)

1. (transitive) To clean thoroughly; to cleanse; to rid of impurities.
2. (transitive, religion) to free from sin, guilt, or the burden or responsibility of misdeeds
3. (transitive) To remove by cleansing; to wash away.

   • Purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.

   • We'll join our cares to purge away / Our country's crimes.

4. (transitive, intransitive, medicine) To void or evacuate (the bowels or the stomach); to defecate or vomit.
5. (transitive, medicine) To cause someone to purge, operate on (somebody) as or with a cathartic or emetic, or in a similar manner.
   • 1979, Octavia Butler, Kindred:

     "What did they die of?" I asked.
     "Fevers. The doctor came and bled them and purged them, but they still died."
     "He bled and purged babies?"
     "They were two and three. He said it would break the fever. And it did. But they ... they died anyway."

6. (transitive, of a person) To forcibly remove, e.g., from political activity.

7. (transitive, of an organization, by extension) To forcibly remove people from.

8. (transitive, law) to clear of a charge, suspicion, or imputation
9. (transitive) To clarify; to clear the dregs from (liquor).
10. (intransitive) To become pure, as by clarification.
11. (intransitive) To have or produce frequent evacuations from the intestines, as by means of a cathartic.
12. (transitive) To trim, dress, or prune.

Translations

Anagrams

• Grupe, repug

French

Verb

purge

1. first-person singular present indicative of purger
2. third-person singular present indicative of purger
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of purger
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of purger
5. second-person singular imperative of purger

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

purge f (plural purges)

1. (Jersey) purgative

English

Alternative forms

• drein (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dreinen, from Old English dr?ahnian (“to drain, strain, filter”), from Proto-Germanic *drauhn?n? (“to strain, sieve”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, parched”). Akin to Old English dr?gian (“to dry up”), Old English dr?gaþ (“dryness, drought”), Old English dr??e (“dry”). More at dry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?e?n/, IPA^(key): /d??e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Noun

drain (plural drains)

1. (chiefly US, Canada) A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
2. (chiefly Britain) An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without going through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
3. Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.

4. (vulgar) An act of urination.
5. (electronics) One terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
6. (pinball) An outhole.
7. (Britain, slang, dated) A drink.
   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Three Detective Anecdotes

     When the play was over, we came out together, and I said, "We've been very companionable and agreeable, and perhaps you wouldn't object to a drain?"

   • 1966, Henry Mayhew, ?Peter Quennell, London's Underworld (page 48)

     What did she want with money, except now and then for a drain of white satin.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

drain (third-person singular simple present drains, present participle draining, simple past and past participle drained)

1. (intransitive) To lose liquid.

   The clogged sink drained slowly.

   • Knock knock.
     Who's there?
     Dwayne.
     Dwayne who?
     Drain the bathtub, I'm drowning.
2. (intransitive) To flow gradually.

   The water of low ground drains off.

3. (transitive, ergative) To cause liquid to flow out of.

   Please drain the sink. It's full of dirty water.

4. (transitive, ergative) To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.

   They had to drain the swampy land before the parking lot could be built.

5. (transitive) To deplete of energy or resources.

   The stress of this job is really draining me.

6. (transitive) To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
   • But it was not alone that he drained their treasure and hampered their industry.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To filter.
8. (intransitive, pinball) To fall off the bottom of the playfield.

Derived terms

• drainable
• drainage
• drain away
• draining (adjective)
• drain out
• drain the lizard (vulgar)
• drain the main vain

Descendants

• ? French: drainer (see there for further descendants)

Translations

Anagrams

• Darin, Drina, Indra, Nadir, Nardi, Ndari, Radin, dinar, nadir, ranid

Cimbrian

Numeral

drain

1. dative of drai