v. i. [ imp. Sunk or (Sank ; 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I sink in deep mire. Ps. lxix. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath or below the surface; to penetrate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The stone sunk into his forehead. 1 San. xvii. 49. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, to enter so as to make an abiding impression; to enter completely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let these sayings sink down into your ears. Luke ix. 44. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He sunk down in his chariot. 2 Kings ix. 24. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let not the fire sink or slacken. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Alps and Pyreneans sink before him. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To fall; subside; drop; droop; lower; decline; decay; decrease; lessen. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To cause to sink; to put under water; to immerse or submerge in a fluid; as, to sink a ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ The Athenians ] fell upon the wings and sank a single ship. Jowett (Thucyd.). [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I raise of sink, imprison or set free. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

If I have a conscience, let it sink me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power
Has sunk thy father more than all his years. Rowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make (a depression) by digging, delving, or cutting, etc.; as, to sink a pit or a well; to sink a die. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To bring low; to reduce in quantity; to waste. [ 1913 Webster ]

You sunk the river repeated draughts. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To conseal and appropriate. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore. [ 1913 Webster ]

A courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths. Robertson. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To reduce or extinguish by payment; as, to sink the national debt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A drain to carry off filthy water; a jakes. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A hole or low place in land or rock, where waters sink and are lost; -- called also sink hole. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. 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. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Sink hole. (a) The opening to a sink drain. (b) A cesspool. (c) Same as Sink, n., 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, sinks. Specifically: (a) A weight on something, as on a fish line, to sink it. (b) In knitting machines, one of the thin plates, blades, or other devices, that depress the loops upon or between the needles. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dividing sinker, in knitting machines, a sinker between two jack sinkers and acting alternately with them. --
Jack sinker. See under Jack, n. --
Sinker bar. (a) In knitting machines, a bar to which one set of the sinkers is attached. (b) In deep well boring, a heavy bar forming a connection between the lifting rope and the boring tools, above the jars. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & n. from Sink. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]