To filter; to cause to pass through some porous substance. Salt water, drained through twenty vessels of earth, hath become fresh.

To empty or clear of liquor, by causing the liquor to drop or run off slowly; as, to drain a vessel or its contents.

To make dry; to exhaust of water or other liquor, by causing it to flow off in channels, or through porous substances; as, to drain land; to drain a swamp or marsh.

To empty; to exhaust; to draw off gradually; as, a foreign war drains a country of specie.

To flow off gradually; as, let the water of low ground drain off.

To be emptied of liquor, by flowing or dropping; as, let the vessel stand and drain; let the cloth hand and drain.

A channel through which water or other liquid flows off; particularly, a trench or ditch to convey water from wet land; a watercourse; a sewer; a sink.