Sink, v. t. 1. To
cause to sink; to put under water; to immerse or submerge in a fluid;
as, to sink a ship.
[The Athenians] fell upon the wings and sank a
single ship.
Jowett (Thucyd.).
2. Figuratively: To cause to decline; to
depress; to degrade; hence, to ruin irretrievably; to destroy, as by
drowping; as, to sink one's reputation.
I raise of sink, imprison or set
free.
Prior.
If I have a conscience, let it sink
me.
Shak.
Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power
Has sunk thy father more than all his years.
Rowe.
3. To make (a depression) by digging, delving,
or cutting, etc.; as, to sink a pit or a well; to sink a
die.
4. To bring low; to reduce in quantity; to
waste.
You sunk the river repeated
draughts.
Addison.
5. To conseal and appropriate.
[Slang]
If sent with ready money to buy anything, and you
happen to be out of pocket, sink the money, and take up the
goods on account.
Swift.
6. To keep out of sight; to suppress; to
ignore.
A courtly willingness to sink obnoxious
truths.
Robertson.
7. To reduce or extinguish by payment; as, to
sink the national debt.
Sink, n. 1. A drain
to carry off filthy water; a jakes.
2. A shallow box or vessel of wood, stone,
iron, or other material, connected with a drain, and used for
receiving filthy water, etc., as in a kitchen.
3. A hole or low place in land or rock, where
waters sink and are lost; -- called also sink hole. [U.
S.]
Sink hole. (a) The opening to
a sink drain. (b) A cesspool.
(c) Same as Sink, n.,
3.
Sink (sĭ?k), v. i.
[imp. Sunk (sŭ?k), or (Sank
(să?k)); p. p. Sunk (obs.
Sunken, -- now used as adj.); p. pr.
& vb. n. Sinking.] [OE. sinken, AS.
sincan; akin to D. zinken, OS. sincan, G.
sinken, Icel. sökkva, Dan. synke, Sw.
sjunka, Goth. siggan, and probably to E. silt.
Cf. Silt.] 1. To fall by, or as by, the
force of gravity; to descend lower and lower; to decline gradually; to
subside; as, a stone sinks in water; waves rise and
sink; the sun sinks in the west.
I sink in deep mire.
Ps. lxix.
2.
2. To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath
or below the surface; to penetrate.
The stone sunk into his forehead.
1 San. xvii. 49.
3. Hence, to enter so as to make an abiding
impression; to enter completely.
Let these sayings sink down into your
ears.
Luke ix. 44.
4. To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fall
slowly, as so the ground, from weakness or from an overburden; to fail
in strength; to decline; to decay; to decrease.
I think our country sinks beneath the
yoke.
Shak.
He sunk down in his chariot.
2
Kings ix. 24.
Let not the fire sink or slacken.
Mortimer.
5. To decrease in volume, as a river; to
subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent
height.
The Alps and Pyreneans sink before
him.
Addison.
Syn. -- To fall; subside; drop; droop; lower; decline;
decay; decrease; lessen.
Sink (sĭ?k), n. The
lowest part of a natural hollow or closed basin whence the water of
one or more streams escapes by evaporation; as, the sink of the
Humboldt River. [Western U. S.]