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Drain vs Ebb - What's the difference?

drain | ebb | Related terms |

Drain is a related term of ebb.


In lang=en terms the difference between drain and ebb

is that drain is to draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust while ebb is to cause to flow back.

As nouns the difference between drain and ebb

is that drain is a conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume while ebb is the receding movement of the tide.

As verbs the difference between drain and ebb

is that drain is to lose liquid while ebb is to flow back or recede.

As an adjective ebb is

low, shallow.

drain

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03, volume=101, issue=2, page=114, magazine=(American Scientist)
  • , author=Frank Fish, George Lauder , title= Not Just Going with the Flow , passage=An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex . The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain , as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.}}
  • An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without going through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
  • Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.
  • (label) An act of urination.
  • (label) The name of one terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
  • Derived terms

    * circle the drain * down the drain * drain fly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To lose liquid.
  • The clogged sink drained slowly.
  • To flow gradually.
  • The water of low ground drains off.
  • (ergative) To cause liquid to flow out of.
  • Please drain the sink. It's full of dirty water.
  • (ergative) To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.
  • They had to drain the swampy land before the parking lot could be built.
  • To deplete of energy or resources.
  • The stress of this job is really draining me.
  • To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent.
  • * Motley
  • But it was not alone that he drained their treasure and hampered their industry.
  • (obsolete) To filter.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Salt water, drained through twenty vessels of earth, hath become fresh.
  • (pinball) To fall off the bottom of the playfield.
  • * 1990 , Steven A. Schwartz, Compute's Nintendo Secrets
  • When a ball finally drains , it's gulped down by a giant gator beneath the set of flippers.

    Derived terms

    * drainage * drain the lizard (vulgar)

    Anagrams

    *

    ebb

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The receding movement of the tide.
  • The boats will go out on the ebb .
  • * (rfdate) Shelley
  • Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!
  • A gradual decline.
  • * (rfdate) Roscommon
  • Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.
  • A low state; a state of depression.
  • * (rfdate) Dryden
  • Painting was then at its lowest ebb .
  • * 2002 , (Joyce Carol Oates), The New Yorker , 22 & 29 April
  • A "lowest ebb'" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "' ebb " might easily have lasted for years.
  • A European bunting, .
  • Derived terms

    * ebb and flow * ebb tide

    Antonyms

    * flood * flow

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to flow back or recede
  • The tides ebbed at noon .
  • to fall away or decline
  • The dying man's strength ebbed away .
  • to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
  • To cause to flow back.
  • (Ford)

    Synonyms

    ebb away, ebb down, ebb off, ebb out, reflux, wane

    Adjective

    (er)
  • low, shallow
  • The water there is otherwise very low and ebb . (Holland)
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