drain n Cp OED ~ sb 1 'artificial conduit or channel for carrying off water, sewage, etc.' Ditch at side of road or gutter of a street to carry off rain-water; drain-pipe laid across road to prevent flooding (P 148-62).
   1837 Journ of Assembly 451 Our reason for opening the road twenty-four feet was that the road when finished might be twenty feet wide, allowing two feet upon each side for drains. 1869 Stewart's Qtly iii, 55 The rock-fragment, enclosing our Oldhamia, was broken off by some of these forces from the original mass; tossed about; rounded by friction ... till at length the casual blow of a pick axe, in cutting a drain, laid open the venerable forms. 1887 Daily Colonist Christmas No 5 In the Spring when the side drains were choked, he told the chairman 'that the sinuosities of the aqueducts had impeded the flow of the aqueous fluid, and caused it to permeate through the viaducts.' [1927 BURKE] [broadside] "Stoppage of Water": So we might scoop an egg cup [of water] outside in the drain.

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