Drench is from Old English 'drencan' ('to give drink to, soak, drown'), causative of 'drincan' ('to drink'), from Proto-Germanic '*drankijaną'. The ancestry passes through Old English drencan and Proto-Germanic *drankijaną. In present use as verb and noun, it means "to wet thoroughly; to soak", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include drink and drunk; derived forms include drenched and drenching. Its contrast set includes dry, parch, and dehydrate, which clarifies the semantic boundary of the modern word.