Middle English Dictionary Entry

drǒunen v.(1)
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Entry Info

Forms drǒunen v.(1) Also drun(en, druen, drouenen, drone. Forms: p. drǒuned, drǒunet, drǒuened, drūnd; ppl. drǒuned, drǒunde, drǒunet, drǒunt, drūned, drūnd, drọ̄̆nt & adrǒuned, idrǒuned.
Etymology Prob. ON *drugna, *drunna, *drunkna; cp. OI drukna. See Björkman, Scand.Loan-Words, p.176.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1a.
(a) To drown (sb.), kill by drowning; -- also refl.; (b) to be drowned, die by drowning; (c) ppl. drouned, drowned; ben drouned, to be drowned, drown.
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1b.
To smother (sb.), stifle.
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1c.
Fig. (a) To overwhelm (sb. or sth.), destroy; do away with (virtue), blot out (sin); (b) to plunge (sb. into death, damnation, etc.), plunge (oneself into vice, torment); (c) to plunge (into sth.), be engulfed; (d) ppl. drouned in teres, weeping profusely; drouned of win, very drunk.
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2.
(a) To sink (a ship); throw (books) into the sea; (b) of a ship: to sink, founder; of goods: be lost (at sea); (c) ben drouned, to sink or be sunk; be lost (at sea); (d) ben drouned, to be covered (with snow); of an arrow: be embedded in the flesh.
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3.
(a) To inundate or flood (land, a building, the world); (b) to become flooded or deluged; (c) to make (a medicine) penetrate or soak in.
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