sink

pronunciation

How to pronounce sink in British English: UK [sɪŋk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce sink in American English: US [sɪŋk] word us audio image

Noun:

plumbing fixture consisting of a water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe
(technology) a process that acts to absorb or remove energy or a substance from a system
a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof
a covered cistern; waste water and sewage flow into it
Verb:

fall or drop to a lower place or level
cause to sink
pass into a specified state or condition
go under, "The raft sank and its occupants drowned"
descend into or as if into some soft substance or place
appear to move downward
fall heavily or suddenly; decline markedly
fall or sink heavily
embed deeply

Word Origin

sink: sink: [OE] Sink is a general Germanic verb, with relatives in German sinken, Dutch zinken, Swedish sjunka, and Danish synke. But where their common Germanic ancestor came from is not known. These days, sink means both ‘go below water’ and ‘cause to go below water’, but originally it was used only for the former. There was a separate but closely related verb, sench, for ‘cause to sink’, which died out in the 14th century. The noun sink [15] originally denoted a pit ‘sunk’ in the ground for receiving water.

sink (v.): Old English sincan (intransitive) "become submerged, go under, subside" (past tense sanc, past participle suncen), from Proto-Germanic *senkwan (cognates: Old Saxon sinkan, Old Norse sökkva, Middle Dutch sinken, Dutch zinken, Old High German sinkan, German sinken, Gothic sigqan), from PIE root *sengw- "to sink." The transitive use (mid-13c.) supplanted Middle English sench (compare drink/drench) which died out 14c. Related: Sank; sunk; sinking. Sinking fund is from 1724. Adjective phrase sink or swim is from 1660s. To sink without a trace is World War I military jargon, translating German spurlos versenkt.

sink (n.): early 15c., "cesspool, pit for reception of wastewater or sewage," from sink (v.). Figurative sense of "place where corruption and vice abound" is from 1520s. Meaning "drain for carrying water to a sink" is from late 15c. Sense of "shallow basin (especially in a kitchen) with a drainpipe for carrying off dirty water" first recorded 1560s. In science and technical use, "place where heat or other energy is removed from a system" (opposite of source), from 1855.

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