drown

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To die from being unable to breathe under water.

   The child fell into the lake and nearly drowned.

2. 2
   verb

   To kill someone by holding them under water.

   In the story, the witch tries to drown her victims in the river.

3. 3
   verb

   To cover or fill something completely with liquid, or with too much of something.

   We are drowning in information but starving for wisdom.

4. 4
   verb

   To try to forget your problems by doing something, especially drinking.

   He drowned his sorrows in beer after losing his job.

From Middle English drownen, drounen, drunen (“to drown”), of obscure and uncertain origin. The OED suggests an unattested Old English form *drūnian. Harper 2001 points to Old English druncnian, ġedruncnian (> Middle English drunknen, dronknen (“to drown”)), "probably influenced" by Old Norse drukkna (cf. Icelandic drukkna, Danish drukne (“to drown”)). Funk & Wagnall's has 'of uncertain origin'. It has been theorised (see e.g. ODS) that it may represent a direct loan of Old Norse drukkna, but this is described by the OED as being "on phonetic and other grounds [...] highly improbable", unless…

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