I. ˈdrench noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English drenc; akin to Old High German trank drink, Gothic drank; derivative from the root of Old English drincan to drink — more at drink
1.
a. : drink , draft
b. : a poisonous or medicinal drink ; specifically : a large dose of medicine mixed with liquid and put down the throat of an animal
2.
a. : something that drenches
this alternance of sun and drench proliferates plant and beast — Waldo Frank
b. : a quantity sufficient to drench or saturate
the heather of the bogs, the hill turf, and the gravel of the road had lost their color under a drench of dew — John Buchan
few men have subjected all their borrowings to so strong a drench of personability — H.S.Canby
c. : a solution usually of fermenting bran used for drenching hides
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English drenchen to cause to drink, drown, from Old English drencan; akin to Old High German trenken to cause to drink, Old Norse drekkja to drown, Gothic drankjan to cause to drink; causative from the root of Old English drincan to drink
transitive verb
1.
a. archaic : to force to drink
b. : to administer a drench to (an animal)
2. obsolete
a. : to submerge in water
b. : drown
3. : to steep or saturate by immersion in liquid
desserts drenched in brandy — Dwight Macdonald
specifically : to soak (hides) in a weak acid bath to remove lime left by the liming process
4. : to soak or cover thoroughly with liquid that falls or is precipitated
within five minutes the daily downpour of tropical rain would drench the jungle — William Beebe
the sweat poured down his body until he was drenched — Pearl Buck
5. : to fill completely as if by soaking or precipitation : saturate , steep , pervade
ominous iridescences drench every paragraph — Frederic Morton
familiar with the Hebrides and drenched in Highland lore — J.W.Krutch
klieg lights snapped on, drenching rostrum and orchestra floor with hot light — F.L.Allen
sun- drenched Italy — G.C.Sellery
intransitive verb
: to fall heavily and cause saturation
driving snow and sleet, which drenched cruelly down on little townships that already … had had too much of water — Mollie Panter-Downes