▪ I. drench, n.
(drɛnʃ)
Forms: 1 drenc(e, 3 drænc, drencche, drunch, 4 drenche, drenke, 3– drench.
[OE. dręnc draught, drink, drowning:—OTeut. *draŋki-z, f. draŋk- ablaut grade of driŋk-an to drink. Cf. Goth, draggk, dragk, OS. dranc, OHG. tranch (Ger. trank):—OTeut. *draŋko{supm}, and OHG. trenka fem.:—OTeut. *draŋkjâ.]
† 1. Drink; a draught. Obs. in general sense.
| a 800 Corpus Gloss. 166 Antedo [antidotum], wyrtdrenc. c 1000 Coll. Monast. (Th.) 35 (Bosw.) Win nys drenc cilda. c 1205 Lay. 13435 Heo hafden drænc, heo hafden mete. 1340 Ayenb. 130 Þer ne is noþer king ne kuene þet ne ssel drinke of deaþes drench. |
2. spec. A medicinal, soporific, or poisonous draught; a potion. From 1600 often (after 3): A large draught or potion, or one forcibly given.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 56 Wyrc drenc wiþ hwostan. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 158 Se drenc deadbær wæs. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 151 He ȝef hym a luþer drench. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1386 Sche fet him a drench þat noble was, & mad him drynk it warm. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 250 A poysoned drench. 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 385/1 A drench of sack At a good tavern..Would cure him. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 73 If the sleepy drench Of that forgetful Lake benumme not still. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) III. 327 This muddy Drench of Ale. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 286 Girls are fattened to a vast bulk by drenches of curds and cream thickened with flour. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. ii. 953 Guido..Shook off the relics of his poison drench. |
| fig. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 324 With concubynes and drenches of Baudrye. 1641 Milton Animadv. (1851) 204 To diet their ignorance..with the limited draught of a Mattin, and even song drench. 1891 E. H. Hickey in Athenæum 24 Oct. 549/2 The sleepy drench of Time. |
3. A draught or dose of medicine administered to an animal.
| 1552 Huloet, Drench or drynke for horse or other beast, saluiatum. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 144 Poure this drench with an horne downe the throat of laboring jades. 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 66 Administered by way of Drench to a horse. a 1748 Watts Ontology x. ii. §4 A farrier constrains him to take a drench. 1864 Knight Passages Wrkg. Life I. ii. 151 No cattle-doctor would give a drench to a cow unless he consulted the table in the Almanack. |
4. The act of drenching, soaking, or wetting thoroughly; such a quantity as drenches.
| 1808 J. Barlow Columb. i. 442 Wide over earth his annual freshet strays, And highland drains with lowland drench repays. 1850 Browning Christmas Eve 168 Quench The gin-shop's light in hell's grim drench. 1893 Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Z. III. 114 A drench of rain. |
5. Tanning. A preparation in which skins are steeped. Cf. drenche-kive in 6.
| 1853 C. Morfit Tanning, etc. 410 Skins..undergo a steeping, for ten or fifteen days, in a fermenting mixture, or ‘drench’, of forty pounds of bran and twenty gallons of water. |
6. Comb., as drench-horn, (orig. OE. drenc-horn a drinking horn), a horn used for giving a medicinal drench to animals; † drenche-kive, a drenching vat or tub (see sense 5).
| ? c 1000 Cod. Dipl. 722 (Kemble) III. 361 (Bosw.) Ic ᵹeann into ðære stowe ðone drenc-horn ðe ic ær [MS. er] æt ðam hirede ᵹebohte. a 1300 Sat. People Kildare xiv. in E.E.P. (1862) 155 Hail be ȝe skinners wiþ ȝure drenche kiue, Who so smilliþ þer-to wo is him aliue. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 325/2 The Farriers Drench Horn. |
▪ II. drench, v.
(drɛnʃ)
Forms: 1 drencan, 2–5 drenchen, 3–6 drenche, (4 drensche, dr(e)inche, 4–5 drynche), 5– drench. pa. tense α. 1–3 drencte, 2–5 dreint(e, 3 drengte, 3–6 dreynt(e, 4 dreynkt(e, 5 drenkte, dreyncte, 5 draynt(e, drenckt, 6–7 drent(e. β. 4–5 drenchid(e, -yd, 4– drenched, 6–7 drencht. pa. pple. α. 1 drenct, 2–5 dreint, etc., 6 drent, drint, drynt. β. 4– drenched, 6–7 drencht.
[OE. dręncan = OS. dręnkian (Du. drenken), OHG. trenchen (Ger. tränken), ON. drekkja:—drenkja (Sw. dränka):—OTeut. *draŋkjan, f. draŋk, ablaut grade of driŋkan to drink, of which it is the causal derivative.]
1. trans. To make to drink; to administer drink to; now spec. to administer a draught of medicine in a forcible manner to (an animal).
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. lix. [lx.] 3 Ðu..hi..mid wynsume wine drenctest. a 1400–50 Alexander 1106 Þou sall be drenchid of a drinke a draȝte of vnsele. 1592 Daniel Compl. Rosamond 29 Wks. (1717) 54 Take it [i.e. poison], or I will drench you else by force. 1653 Holcroft Procopius, Vandal Wars ii. 55 The drink proceeding, and Gontharis being well drencht and grown bountifull, gave of his meats to the guard. 1672 J. Lacy Dumb Lady i. Dram. Wks. (1875) 21 I'll to the wood and drench a sick horse. 1756 Foote Eng. fr. Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 106 Madam, drenched with a bumper, drops a curtesy, and departs. 1808 Scott Marm. v. xxii, A stranger maiden..Had drenched him with a beverage rare. 1894 H. Dalziel Dis. Dogs (ed. 3) 2 It is necessary to drench him. |
| fig. 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxxii 42, I shal drenche myn arewis in blood, and my swerd shal deuour flesh. |
† 2. To submerge in water; to drown. Also refl. Obs.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 175 Gif he ship findeþ, he fondeð to drenchen hit ȝif he mai. c 1205 Lay. 12111 Summe heo heom drengte in þere sæ deope. c 1300 Havelok 561, I shal dreinchen him in þe se. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 650 They priuely been stirt in to a welle And dreynte [v. rr. drenkte, dreynt, dreinte] hem seluen. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 55 Nor no water shulde drenche her, nor fyre brenne her. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 6 Condemned to be drent. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. viii. (1626) 165 And in the strangling waters drencht his child. |
| fig. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §293 (1810) 302 The Dart drencheth itself into that river. |
† 3. intr. To sink in water; to be drowned. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 100 Þe se biset ow al a boute..ȝe mowe..drenche. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 2008 He dreynte þerin. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1747 Þat in þis flod we drench natt. a 1547 Surrey in Tottell's Misc. (Arb) 16 Alas, now drencheth my swete fo. 1570 Abp. Parker Corr. (1853) 364, I was like to have drenched in the midst of the Thames. |
| fig. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 902 (930) Þough ye boþe in salte teris drenche [Harl. dreynte]. c 1385 ― L.G.W. 1919 Ariadne, And let hire drenche in sorwe & in distresse. |
4. trans. To wet thoroughly by immersion; to steep, soak, saturate.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 15 His earewen idrencte of an attri haliwei. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 370 Let drenche it for a tyme in water swete. 1589 Cogan Haven Health ccxliii. (1636) 310 A..spunge drenched in white Vineger of Roses. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 680 Good Shepherds after Sheering drench their Sheep. 1719 Young Busiris v. i, I'll drench my sword in thy detested blood. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 152 The nails, which were drenched in his sacred veins. |
b. Tanning. (See quots.)
| 1853 C. Morfit Tanning, etc. 413 The skins are..drenched for some days in a fermenting bran-bath. 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 276/1 To ‘drench’..the hides are placed for six or eight hours in vats filled with a dissolved excrement, above which a line of large wooden..wheels..in their revolution turn them over and over in the solution. |
5. Now esp. To wet through and through with liquid falling or thrown upon the object.
| 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. cxxxiii. 343 It weat not Aaron's head alone, but drencht his beard throughout. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 53 Many fields have been drencht with blood. 1714 Gay Trivia i. 46 And Show'rs soon drench the Camlet's cockled Grain. 1832 Tennyson Dream Fair Women 85 Dark wood-walks drench'd in dew. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. iv. (1894) 95 A thunderstorm drenched us during our descent. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus ci. 9 Drench'd in a brother's tears, and weeping freshly, receives them. |
† 6. fig. To drown, immerse, plunge, overwhelm.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. metr. i. 1 (Camb. MS.) The sorwful howre þat is to seyn the deth hadde almost dreynt myn heued. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxvi. 303 (Harl. MS.) He drenchith þe synner in Ivill thowtis. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 83 He..was drint into dispair. 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. iv. C, His sonne is drente in debte so deepe. a 1628 Preston New Covt. (1630) 198 Men much drenched in worldly business. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India III. vi. i. 45 Minds drenched with terror are easily deceived. |
Hence drenched (drɛnʃt), ppl. a.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 1886 (Trin.) A drenched beest. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 27 To drie their drenched apparaile. 1660 Gauden Dr. Brownrig 212 A drenched and almost drowned man. 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 276/1 The drenched hides..are..worked over a beam. |
▪ III. drench
see dreng.