Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Drown \Drown\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Drowned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Drowning}.] [OE. drunen, drounen, earlier drunknen,
   druncnien, AS. druncnian to be drowned, sink, become drunk,
   fr. druncen drunken. See {Drunken}, {Drink}.]
   To be suffocated in water or other fluid; to perish in water.

         Methought, what pain it was to drown.    --Shak.

Drown \Drown\, v. t.
   1. To overwhelm in water; to submerge; to inundate. ``They
      drown the land.'' --Dryden.

   2. To deprive of life by immersion in water or other liquid.

   3. To overpower; to overcome; to extinguish; -- said
      especially of sound.

            Most men being in sensual pleasures drowned. --Sir
                                                  J. Davies.

            My private voice is drowned amid the senate.
                                                  --Addison.

   {To drown up}, to swallow up. [Obs.] --Holland.

Source : WordNet®

drown
     v 1: cover completely or make imperceptible; "I was drowned in
          work"; "The noise drowned out her speech" [syn: {submerge},
           {overwhelm}]
     2: get rid of as if by submerging; "She drowned her trouble in
        alcohol"
     3: die from being submerged in water, getting water into the
        lungs, and asphyxiating; "The child drowned in the lake"
     4: kill by submerging in water; "He drowned the kittens"