different between sink vs cave

English

Etymology

From Old English sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English sen?an (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijan?.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /s??k/
• Rhymes: -??k
• Homophones: sync, synch, cinque

Verb

sink (third-person singular simple present sinks, present participle sinking, simple past sank or sunk, past participle sunk or sunken)

2. (heading, physical) To move or be moved into something.
   1. (ergative) To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.

   2. (transitive) To cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight.

   3. (transitive) To push (something) into something.

   4. (transitive) To make by digging or delving.

      to sink a well in the ground

   5. (transitive, snooker, pool, billiards, golf) To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.
      • 2008, Edward Keating, The Joy of Ex: A Novel

        My sister beats me at pool in public a second time. I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black.

3. (heading, social) To diminish or be diminished.
   1. (intransitive, figuratively, of the human heart) To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
      • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Ch.21:

        I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me. Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black.

      • 1915, Thornton W. Burgess, The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston; ch. XIX:

        Peter's heart sank. "Don't you think it is dreadful?" he asked.

   2. (transitive, figuratively) To cause to decline; to depress or degrade.
      • c. 1613, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act II, scene i:

        And if I have a conscience, let it sink me

      • 1700, Nicholas Rowe The Ambitious Stepmother, Act II, scene ii:

        Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power / Has sunk thy father more than all his years.

   3. (intransitive) To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
      • 2013, Steve Henschel, Niagara This Week, April 24:

        Who would sink so low as to steal change from veterans?

4. (transitive, slang, archaic) To conceal and appropriate.
5. (transitive, slang, archaic) To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
   • 1849 December 15, Frederick William Robertson, Sermon 14, “The Principle of Spiritual Harvest”:

     I say not always dishonorable qualifications, but a certain flexibility of disposition; a certain courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths, and adapt ourselves to the prejudices of the minds of others […]

6. (transitive, slang) To pay absolutely.

7. (transitive, slang, archaic) To reduce or extinguish by payment.

8. (intransitive) To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fail in strength.

   • I think our country sinks beneath the yoke.
9. (intransitive) To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height.

Usage notes

• Use of sunk for the simple past instead of sank is not uncommon, but may be considered non-standard.

Synonyms

• (descend into a liquid, etc): descend, go down
• (submerge): dip, dunk, submerge
• (cause (ship, etc) to sink):
• (push (something) into):

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

sink (plural sinks)

2. A basin used for holding water for washing.
3. A drain for carrying off wastewater.
4. (geology) A sinkhole.
5. A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet.
6. A heat sink.
7. A place that absorbs resources or energy.
8. (ecology) A habitat that cannot support a population on its own but receives the excess of individuals from some other source.
9. (baseball) The motion of a sinker pitch.

   Jones has a two-seamer with heavy sink.

10. (computing, programming) An object or callback that captures events; event sink
11. (graph theory) a destination vertex in a transportation network
12. An abode of degraded persons; a wretched place.
13. A depression in a stereotype plate.
14. (theater) A stage trap-door for shifting scenery.
15. (mining) An excavation less than a shaft.
16. (game development) One or several systems that remove currency from the game's economy, thus controlling or preventing inflation

    Antonym: faucet

Synonyms

• (basin): basin, washbasin; see also washbasin for washing fixtures without water supply

Antonyms

• (destination vertex): source

Derived terms

• (washbasin): vessel sink

Translations

Related terms

• countersink
• everything but the kitchen sink

References

• Honey, I sunk the boat, The Grammarphobia Blog

Anagrams

• -kins, inks, k'ins, kins, skin

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Etymology 1

From Dutch zinken, from Middle Dutch sinken, from Old Dutch *sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”).

Verb

sink (present sink, present participle sinkende, past participle gesink)

1. (intransitive) to sink

Etymology 2

From Dutch zink, from German Zink.

Noun

sink (uncountable)

1. zinc

Estonian

Noun

sink (genitive singi, partitive sinki)

1. ham

Declension

Faroese

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???k/
• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, uncountable)

1. (metal) zinc

Declension

Derived terms

• sinksalva

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, no plural)

1. zinc (chemical element)

Declension

Anagrams

• skin

Mauritian Creole

Numeral

sink

1. Alternative spelling of senk

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• forsinke
• sinksulfat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• sinksulfat

References

• “sink” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

West Frisian

Verb

sink

1. first-person singular present of sinke
2. imperative of sinke

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French cave, from Latin cava (“cavity”), from cavus (“hollow”). Cognate with Tocharian B throat (kor), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek ???? (kúar, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian ??? (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit ????? (??nya, “empty, barren, zero”). Displaced native Old English s?ræf.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?v, IPA^(key): /ke?v/
• Rhymes: -e?v

Noun

cave (plural caves)

1. A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.

2. A hole, depression, or gap in earth or rock, whether natural or man-made.
3. A storage cellar, especially for wine or cheese.

4. A place of retreat, such as a man cave.

5. (caving) A naturally-occurring cavity in bedrock which is large enough to be entered by an adult.

6. (nuclear physics) A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.
7. (drilling, uncountable) Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.
8. (mining) A collapse or cave-in.
9. (figuratively, also slang) The vagina.
10. (slang, politics, often "Cave") A group that breaks from a larger political party or faction on a particular issue.
11. (obsolete) Any hollow place, or part; a cavity.
12. (programming) A code cave.

Synonyms

• earthhole

Derived terms

• cave dweller
• caveman
• cave painting
• cavewoman
• seacave

Translations

Verb

cave (third-person singular simple present caves, present participle caving, simple past and past participle caved)

1. To surrender.

2. To collapse.

3. To hollow out or undermine.

4. To engage in the recreational exploration of caves.

   Synonym: spelunk
5. (mining) In room-and-pillar mining, to extract a deposit of rock by breaking down a pillar which had been holding it in place.

6. (mining, obsolete) To work over tailings to dress small pieces of marketable ore.
7. (obsolete) To dwell in a cave.

Derived terms

• block caving
• cave in
• caver
• caving hammer

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin cav?, second-person singular present active imperative of cave? (“to beware”). Used at Eton College, Berkshire.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k??v?, IPA^(key): /?ke?vi/
  • Rhymes: -e?vi
• Homophone: cavy

Interjection

cave

1. (Britain, school slang) look out!; beware!

Synonyms

• heads up, look out, watch it, see also Thesaurus:heads up

Derived terms

• keep cave

Translations

Anagrams

• evac

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kav/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin cavus (“concave; cavity”).

Adjective

cave (plural caves)

1. pitted
2. concave
3. cavernous

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Late Latin cava, substantivized form of Latin cava, feminine of the adjective cavus.

Noun

cave f (plural caves)

1. A cellar or basement.
2. (specifically) A wine cellar; or, a piece of furniture that serves the purpose of a wine cellar.
3. (by extension) A wine selection.
4. caves: An estate where wine grapes are grown or (especially) where wine is produced.
5. cave à liqueurs: A chest for the storage of liquors.

Derived terms

• cave à vin

Etymology 3

Probably from cavé, from the past participle of caver, a term used in games.

Noun

cave m (plural caves)

1. (Quebec, slang) An imbecile, a stupid person.

Anagrams

• avec

Further reading

• “cave” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Adjective

cave

1. feminine plural of cavo

Noun

cave f

1. plural of cava

Latin

Verb

cav?

1. second-person singular present imperative of cave?
   • 1st century AD, Petronius, Satyricon

     Cave canem.

     Beware of the dog.

Norman

Etymology

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

Noun

cave f (plural caves)

1. (Jersey) cave, cellar

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -avi

Noun

cave m (plural caves)

1. cellar

Verb

cave

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
3. third-person singular imperative of cavar

Spanish

Verb

cave

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of cavar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of cavar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of cavar.