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Sinking   /sˈɪŋkɪŋ/   Listen
noun
Sinking  n.  A. & n. from Sink.
Sinking fund. See under Fund.
Sinking head (Founding), a riser from which the mold is fed as the casting shrinks. See Riser, n., 4.
Sinking pump, a pump which can be lowered in a well or a mine shaft as the level of the water sinks.



verb
Sink  v. t.  (past sank; past part. sunk, obs. sunken; pres. part. sinking)  
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."
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." "If I have a conscience, let it sink me." "Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power Has sunk thy father more than all his years."
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."
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."
6.
To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore. "A courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths."
7.
To reduce or extinguish by payment; as, to sink the national debt.



Sink  v. i.  (past sank; past part. sunk, obs. sunken; pres. part. sinking)  
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."
2.
To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath or below the surface; to penetrate. "The stone sunk into his forehead."
3.
Hence, to enter so as to make an abiding impression; to enter completely. "Let these sayings sink down into your ears."
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." "He sunk down in his chariot." "Let not the fire sink or slacken."
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."
Synonyms: To fall; subside; drop; droop; lower; decline; decay; decrease; lessen.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Sinking" Quotes from Famous Books



... mused the other lad, with a shake of his head; "and to think of that poor old lady, an invalid, you said, and confined to a wheelchair, watching the sinking sun faithfully each evening as it sets, still yearning for her boy to come back. It is a dream that has become a part of her very existence. Why, even if young Joel had lived he would now be over sixty years of age, ...
— The Chums of Scranton High at Ice Hockey • Donald Ferguson

... already from the heaven's high steep The dewy night wheels down, and sinking slow, The stars are gently wooing us to sleep. But, if thy longing be so great to know The tale of Troy's last agony and woe, The toils we suffered, though my heart doth ache, And grief would fain the memory forego Of scenes so sad, ...
— The Aeneid of Virgil - Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor • Virgil

... helpless in their unrelaxing grasp. If one could have kept a record of one's physical sensations it would have been a fine collection of absurdities and contradictions. Hardly touching the ground and yet leaden-footed; with a sinking heart and an excited brain; hot and trembling with a secret faintness, and yet as firm as a rock and with a sort of indifference to it all, I did reach the door which was frightfully like any other commonplace door, but at the same time had ...
— The Arrow of Gold - a story between two notes • Joseph Conrad

... Tyrilla's face, The specious front shines out with borrow'd grace; Tho' pasteboards, glitt'ring like a tinsell'd coat, A rasa tabula within denote: Yet, if a venal and corrupted age, And modern vices should provoke thy rage; If, warn'd once more by their impending fate, A sinking country and an injur'd state, Thy great assistance should again demand, And call forth reason to defend the land; Then shall we view these sheets with glad surprise, Inspir'd with thought, and speaking to our eyes; Each vacant space shall then, enrich'd, dispense True force of ...
— The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume I (of 2) • Jonathan Swift

... wretched treatment, Sometimes forgetting the taste of bread, And scarce remembering what meat meant, That my poor stomach's past reform; And there are times when, mad with thinking, I'd sell out heaven for something warm To prop a horrible inward sinking. ...
— Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two • Various


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