Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To plunge into liquid; immerse. See Synonyms at dip.
- v. To wet thoroughly; drench.
- v. To put out (a light or fire); extinguish.
- v. To become thoroughly wet.
- n. A thorough drenching.
- v. Variant of dowse1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To thrust or plunge into a fluid; immerse; dip; also, to drench or flood with a fluid.
- To fall or be plunged suddenly into a fluid.
- To search for deposits of ore, for lodes, or for water, by the aid of the dousing- or divining-rod (which see).
- To strike.
- Nautical, to strike or lower in haste; slacken suddenly: as, douse the topsail.
- n. A blow; a stroke.
- To put out; extinguish.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive, intransitive To plunge suddenly into water; to duck; to immerse.
- v. intransitive To fall suddenly into water.
- v. transitive To put out; to extinguish.
- v. transitive To strike.
- v. transitive, nautical To strike or lower in haste; to slacken suddenly; as, douse the topsail.
- n. A blow; stroke.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To plunge suddenly into water; to duck; to immerse; to dowse.
- v. (Naut.) To strike or lower in haste; to slacken suddenly.
- v. To fall suddenly into water.
- v. Slang To put out; to extinguish.
WordNet 3.0
- v. cover with liquid; pour liquid onto
- v. put out, as of a candle or a light
- v. dip into a liquid
- v. immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate
- v. wet thoroughly
- v. lower quickly
- v. slacken.
Etymologies
- From Middle English duschen, dusshen ("to rush, fall"), related to Norwegian dusa ("to break, cast down from"), Old Dutch doesen ("to beat, strike"), German dialectal tusen, dusen ("to strike, run against, collide"), Eastern Frisian dössen ("to strike"). Compare doss, dust. (Wiktionary)
- From obsolete douse, to strike. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Thanks for "douse" which reminds me of a reflexive verb that I had wanted to include in the story: "se tartiner".”
“And, one day, a first person account of what it's actually like to "douse" Mer Whit "with ... champagne.”
“Just grate orange peel into a mason jar, pierce the skin of the pepper, douse in vodka, seal, wait three days and then filter out the pepper and orange.”
“What I do know is that people in both México and the U.S. are going to have to get over their fears and work together to douse the fires that are spreading in both houses.”
“Crude oil prices alone could douse this euphoria soon.”
“Because the insurance companies that provided the fire departments that would only douse the fires of individual policy holders?”
Think Progress » Pawlenty completes global warming flip-flop, calls cap and trade a ‘disaster.’
“WASHINGTON--Amid a growing air of desperation, world financial leaders on Saturday said they are scrambling to douse the European debt crisis that threatens to spark another global financial meltdown.”
“The reactor boasts a concrete basin designed to trap and douse the reactor core in the event of a meltdown.”
The Wall Street Journal: Areva High-Tech Reactor Hits New Snag
“Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, apparently concerned over the impact on Thailand's huge tourism industry, tried to douse safety fears Monday, telling reporters that the situation in Bangkok was normal.”
The Wall Street Journal: Thai Police Seize Materials, Charge Terror-Plot Suspect
“He added that Malaysia's gross domestic product expansion should slow to around 3.8% this year as global debt problems douse demand in Europe and the U.S. He said he believes Indonesia's economy will remain resilient, while neighboring Singapore could slip into a recession as export demand wanes, though he believes growth will pick up toward year-end.”
The Wall Street Journal: Malaysia's CIMB Bank Optimistic About Indonesian Banking
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘douse’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
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voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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duck, Duck, turducken, duckling, duck tape, Mallard, rubber duckie, Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, lame duck, ducky, ducks and 95 more...
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the first list
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ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
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bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
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Vocab #12
Mrs. Wilson's Class 2012
euphemism, mundane, incongruous, condolence, stipulate, douse, runt, behoove, verbose, garbled
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5-0
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mala fide, trafficking, impoverished, atrocity, divulge, personify, audacity, resurrect, dubious, bloated, sovereign, rein and 123 more...
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pop ups
erstwhile, allegiance, sacked, reinstate, vengeance, affluent, sedative, maverick, caricatives, abandoned, faux pas, ambience and 245 more...
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ash
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abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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arch, enigmatic, inexplicable, captivating, merry, advantageous, appropriate, compelling, alluring, wicked, inept, douse and 200 more...
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absinthe, ambrosial, Bordeaux, burgundy, bibulous, wineskin, champagne, claret, corkscrew, drip dickey, frizzante, flagon and 74 more...
Tweets
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