Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Sink

Sink (sink) , intransitive verb

[Old English sinken, Anglo-Saxon sincan; akin to Dutch zinken, Old Saxon sincan, German sinken, Icelandic sokkva, Danish synke, Swedish sjunka, Gothic siggan, and probably to English silt. Compare 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. [obsolete]
I sink in deep mire. — Bible (KJV) - Psalm lxix. 2
2.
To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath or below the surface; to penetrate.
The stone sunk into his forehead. — 1 San. xvii. 49
3.
Hence, to enter so as to make an abiding impression; to enter completely.
Let these sayings sink down into your ears. — Luke ix. 44
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. — Shakespeare
He sunk down in his chariot. — 2 Kings ix. 24
Let not the fire sink or slacken. — Mortimer
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. — Addison

Sink (sink) , transitive verb

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. — Jowett (Thucyd.)
2.
Figuratively: To cause to decline; to depress; to degrade; hence, to ruin irretrievably; to destroy, as by drowning; as, to sink one's reputation.
I raise of sink, imprison or set free. — Prior
If I have a conscience, let it sink me. — Shakespeare
Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power Has sunk thy father more than all his years. — Rowe
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. — Addison
5.
To conceal 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. — Swift
6.
To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
A courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths. — Robertson
7.
To reduce or extinguish by payment; as, to sink the national debt.

Sink (sink) , noun

1.
A drain to carry off filthy water; a jakes.
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.
3.
A hole or low place in land or rock, where waters sink and are lost; -- called also sink hole. [United States]
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 United States]
Collocations (1)
Sink hole , (a) The opening to a sink drain (b) A cesspool (c) Same as Sink, n., 3.