drench

noun

1. (also, archaic, figuratively)A dose or draught of liquid medicine (especially one causing sleepiness) taken by a person; specifically, a (large) dose, or one forced or poured down the throat.

   “[T]hey need not carry ſuch an unvvorthy ſuſpicion over the Preachers of Gods vvord, as to tutor their unſoundneſſe vvith the Abcie of a Liturgy, or to diet their ignorance, and vvant of care, vvith the limited draught of a Mattin, and even ſong drench.”

   “Let ſuch bethink them, if the ſleepy drench / Of that forgetful Lake benumme not ſtill, / That in our proper motion we aſcend / Up to our native ſeat: deſcent and fall / To us is adverſe.”

   “Corpulence is a beauty: girls are fattened to a vast bulk by drenches of curds and cream thickened with flour, and are duly disciplined when they refuse.”

   “Guido heard all, swore the befitting oaths, / Shook off the relics of his poison-drench, / Got horse, was fairly started in pursuit […]”

   “He [the horse-doctor] made up a bucket of bran-mash, and said a dipperful of it every two hours, alternated with a drench with turpentine and axle-grease in it, would either knock my ailments out of men in twenty-four hours, or so interest me in other ways as to make me forget they were on the premises. […] I took up the Christian Science book and read half of it, then took a dipperful of drench and read the other half.”

2. A dose or draught of liquid medicine administered to an animal.

   “O my ſvveet Harry ſaies ſhe! hovv manie haſt thou kild to day? Giue my roane horſe a drench (ſayes hee) and aunſvveres ſome foureteene, an houre after: a trifle, a trifle.”

   “It [siler] ſtaieth the gurrie or running out of the belly in foure-footed beaſts, vvhether it bee given ſtamped by vvay of a drench and ſo injected, or chevved drie among their meat vvith ſalt.”

   “A Drench of VVine has vvith ſucceſs been us'd; / And through a Horn, the gen'rous Juice infus'd: / VVhich timely taken op'd his cloſing Javvs; / But, if too late, the Patient's [a horse's] death did cauſe.”

3. An act of making someone or something completely wet; a soak or soaking, a wetting.

   “Whenever it was the thought first struck him / How Death, at unawares, might duck him / Deeper than the grave, and quench / The gin-shop's light in Hell's grim drench […]”

4. An amount of water or some other liquid that will make someone or something completely wet.

verb

1. (transitive)To cause (someone) to drink; to provide (someone) with a drink.

   “Pork ſucceeds to Beef, Pies to Puddings: The Cloth is remov'd, Madam, drench'd vvith a Bumper, drops a Courtſey, and departs; […]”

   “But music alone, would not do—Some roast-beef was a necessary article, and some wine, to feed and drench the actors.”

   “A stranger maiden, passing fair, / Had drenched him with a beverage rare;— […]”

   “If the people felt themselves so happy; if they had enjoyed, and were enjoying, such prosperity as to call for a Jubilee, they would, of course, rejoice, they would sing and dance and shout, without being fed and drenched by way of hire to sing, dance, and shout.”

   “Strange that such a cursing wretch should not have laid to heart, that those God's hand will sure undo, who cause their parents wounded heart to smart, whose blood and marrow fed and drenched them, and of whom they form a part.”

2. (specifically, transitive)To cause (someone) to drink; to provide (someone) with a drink.
3. (transitive)To make (someone or something) completely wet by having water or some other liquid fall or thrown on them or it; to saturate, to soak; also (archaic), to make (someone or something) completely wet by immersing in water or some other liquid; to soak, to steep.

   “That our Garments being (as they were) drencht in the Sea, hold notwithſtanding their freſhneſſe and gloſſes, being rather new dy'de then ſtain'd with ſalte water.”

   “Deſolations by vvarrs; hovv many fields have been drencht vvith blood, and compoſted vvith carcaſſes; hovv many Millions of men have been cut off in all ages by the edge of the ſvvord?”

   “Novv dam the Ditches, and the Floods reſtrain: / Their moiſture has already drench'd the Plain.”

   “Good Shepherds after ſheering, drench their Sheep, / And their Flocks Father (forc'd from high to leap) / Svvims dovvn the Stream, and plunges in the Deep.”

   “I've ſeen a Beau, in ſome ill-fated hour, / VVhen o'er the Stones choak'd Kennels ſvvell the Shovv'r, / In gilded Chariot loll; he vvith Diſdain, / Vievvs ſpatter'd Paſſengers, all drench'd in Rain; […]”

4. (obsolete, transitive)To drown (someone).

   “VVhat flames (q[uo]d he) vvhen I thee preſent ſee, / In daunger rather to be drent, then brent?”

   “He lookt a little further, and eſpyde / Another vvretch, vvhoſe carcas deepe vvas drent / VVithin the riuer, vvhich the ſame did hyde: […]”

   “Her, vvhom his furie hath from earth exil'd, / And in the ſtrangling vvaters drencht his child; […]”

5. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To overwhelm (someone); to drown, to engulf.
6. (intransitive, obsolete)To be drowned; also, to be immersed in water.

   “Alas, now drencheth my ſwete fo, / That with the ſpoyle of my hart did go, / And left me but (alas) why did he ſo?”