different between sink vs void

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v??d/
• Rhymes: -??d
• Hyphenation: void

Etymology 1

From Middle English voide, voyde, from Old French vuit, voide, vuide (modern vide), in turn from a Vulgar Latin *vocitus, related to Latin vacuus (“empty”).

Adjective

void (not comparable)

1. Containing nothing; empty; not occupied or filled.

   • The earth was without form, and void.

   • c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman

     I'll chain him in my study, that, at void hours, / I may run over the story of his country.

2. Having no incumbent; unoccupied; said of offices etc.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Apophthegms

     divers great offices that had been long void

3. Being without; destitute; devoid.

   • He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor.

4. Not producing any effect; ineffectual; vain.

   • [My word] shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.

   • I will make void the counsel of Judah.

5. Of no legal force or effect, incapable of confirmation or ratification.

   null and void

6. Containing no immaterial quality; destitute of mind or soul.
7. (computing, programming, of a function or method) That does not return a value.

Translations

Noun

void (plural voids)

1. An empty space; a vacuum.

   Nobody has crossed the void since one man died trying three hundred years ago; it's high time we had another go.
2. (astronomy) An extended region of space containing no galaxies
3. (materials science) A collection of adjacent vacancies inside a crystal lattice.
4. (fluid mechanics) A pocket of vapour inside a fluid flow, created by cavitation.
5. (construction) An empty space between floors or walls, including false separations and planned gaps between a building and its facade.

Synonyms

• ((engineering) collection of vacancies): pore
• ((engineering) pocket of vapour in fluid): bubble

Hyponyms

• ((astronomy) An extended region of space containing no galaxies): Local Void

Translations

Verb

void (third-person singular simple present voids, present participle voiding, simple past and past participle voided)

1. (transitive) To make invalid or worthless.
   • after they had voided the obligation of the oath he had taken

2. (transitive, medicine) To empty.

3. To throw or send out; to evacuate; to emit; to discharge.

   • You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur

   • 1612, John Webster, The White Devil

     With shovel, like a fury, voided out / The earth and scattered bones.

   • a. 1692, Isaac Barrow, The Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance

     a watchful application of mind in voiding prejudices

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To withdraw, depart.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To remove the contents of; to make or leave vacant or empty; to quit; to leave.
   • If they will fight with us, bid them come down, / Or void the field.

Synonyms

• (make invalid or worthless): annul, cancel
• ((medicine) to empty): evacuate

Translations

Etymology 2

Alteration of voidee.

Noun

void (plural voids)

1. (now rare, historical) A voidee. [from 15th c.]
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 68:

     Late on the final evening, as the customary ‘void’ – spiced wine and sweetmeats – was served, more elaborate disguisings in the great hall culminated in the release of a flock of white doves.

Anagrams

• Ovid, divo

Middle French

Alternative forms

• voit

Verb

void

1. third-person singular indicative present of veoir