drenching

Etymology

From Middle English drenchyng, drenchynge, drenchende, from Old English drenċende, from Proto-Germanic *drankijandz, present participle of *drankijaną (“to drench”), equivalent to drench + -ing.

adj

  1. That causes one to become extremely wet.“We'll be experiencing drenching rain all weekend.”

noun

  1. The act by which something is drenched; a soaking.“[…] and it contains a very good selection of shrubs and herbaceous plants, which, having good soil and plentiful drenchings of water from a garden-engine all the summer, thrive to admiration.”
  2. The administering of a medicinal draught to an animal.“Horses,^([sic]) get all sorts of medicines, wormings, drenchings, and their food may well have been produced chemically […]”