drain off

verb

drained off; draining off; drains off

1

: to cause (a liquid) to flow away from something or to leave the surface of something

When the beans have cooked long enough to be tender, drain off the water and set them aside.

2

: to take (something important or valuable) from something

An independent candidate could drain off votes from either party.

Examples of drain off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

European butter is typically churned for a longer amount of time, which means that more buttermilk and water drains off of the solids. — Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 19 Aug. 2026

Water testing shows the chemicals can drain off-base and contaminate private wells and sources of municipal drinking water. — Austin Fast, USA Today, 26 July 2026

Other records from the district and the state describe how most of the water percolated into the ground, evaporated into hot, dry air, or drained off fields into scrubland and desert. — Emily Cureton Cook, ProPublica, 26 June 2026

Be sure to drain off any excess fat to keep them from getting too greasy. — Maggie Meyer Glisan, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 June 2026

Rhymes for drain off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff