Literary notes about drained (AI summary)
The word “drained” functions as a multifaceted tool in literature, often evoking both literal and metaphorical depletion. It can depict the physical act of emptying—a glass poured to the dregs [1], a river channel cleared of its flow [2], or even a body bled of its life [3]—while simultaneously illustrating states of exhaustion or emptiness in characters’ bodies and spirits [4][5][6]. Whether describing a landscape rendered barren by the removal of moisture [7] or a soul stripped of its vitality through relentless adversity [8][9], “drained” enriches the narrative by offering a vivid, tangible image of reduction to nothingness. Its diverse usage across contexts—from the stark imagery of nature and the stark mechanics of drink to the poignant metaphor of inner fatigue—demonstrates its enduring power to convey both external and internal voids in the human experience [10][11].
- He drained another glass to the dregs, whilst the cards were being dealt.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - The winter was very wet, and the ground badly drained.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman - Terrific came each deadly stroke: Breast neck and arm and back he broke; And Aksha fell to earth, and lay With all his life-blood drained away.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - My muscles and nerves seemed drained of their strength.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - She did not cry—she only quivered up her breath, 'My heart's drained dry o' tears,' she said.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - Of late it had been easy enough for me to look sad: a cankering evil sat at my heart and drained my happiness at its source—the evil of suspense.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - But the deepest ponds are not so deep in proportion to their area as most suppose, and, if drained, would not leave very remarkable valleys.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau - I have drained the life of the woman I love.
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - The bitter cup of adversity has been drained by me to the very dregs, and I feel that the grave is not far distant.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Fletcher McGee She took my strength by minutes, She took my life by hours, She drained me like a fevered moon That saps the spinning world.
— from Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters - It will never desist until it has satiated its passion, and drained the very life of its coveted victim.
— from Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
