Bathroom fixtures and fittings

sink

/sɪŋk/
(sinks, sinking, sank, sunk)

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.

1.
A sink is a large fixed container in a kitchen, with taps to supply water. It is mainly used for washing dishes.
The sink was full of dirty dishes.
...the kitchen sink.
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2.
A sink is the same as a washbasin or basin.
The bathroom is furnished with 2 toilets, 2 showers, and 2 sinks.
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3.
If a boat sinks or if someone or something sinks it, it disappears below the surface of a mass of water.
In a naval battle your aim is to sink the enemy’s ship...
The boat was beginning to sink fast...
The lifeboat crashed against the side of the sinking ship.
VERB: V n, V, V-ing
• sink‧ing (sinkings)
...the sinking of the Titanic.
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4.
If something sinks, it disappears below the surface of a mass of water.
A fresh egg will sink and an old egg will float.
≠ float
VERB: V

5.
If something sinks, it moves slowly downwards.
Far off to the west the sun was sinking...
VERB: V

6.
If something sinks to a lower level or standard, it falls to that level or standard.
Share prices would have sunk–hurting small and big investors...
Pay increases have sunk to around seven per cent...
The pound had sunk 10 per cent against the Schilling.
= fall
VERB: V, V to/from/by amount/n, V amount

7.
People use sink school or sink estate to refer to a school or housing estate that is in a very poor area with few resources. (BRIT JOURNALISM)
...unemployed teenagers from sink estates...
ADJ: ADJ n

8.
If your heart or your spirits sink, you become depressed or lose hope.
My heart sank because I thought he was going to dump me for another girl...
VERB: V

9.
If something sharp sinks or is sunk into something solid, it goes deeply into it.
I sank my teeth into a peppermint cream...
The spade sank into a clump of overgrown bushes.
VERB: V n into n, V into n

10.
If someone sinks a well, mine, or other large hole, they make a deep hole in the ground, usually by digging or drilling.
...the site where Stephenson sank his first mineshaft...
VERB: V n

11.
If you sink money into a business or project, you spend money on it in the hope of making more money.
He has already sunk $25million into the project.
= plough
VERB: V n into n

12.
see also sinking, sunk

13.
If you say that someone will have to sink or swim, you mean that they will have to succeed through their own efforts, or fail.
The government doesn’t want to force inefficient firms to sink or swim too quickly...
to sink without trace: see trace
PHRASE

bath

/bɑ:θ, bæθ/
When the form 'baths' is the plural of the noun it is pronounced /bɑ:ðz/ or /bæθs/ in British English, and /bæðz/ in American English. When it is used in the present tense of the verb, it is pronounced /bɑ:θs/ or /bæθs/.
(baths bathing, bathed)

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.

1.
A bath is a container, usually a long rectangular one, which you fill with water and sit in while you wash your body. (BRIT; in AM, use bathtub)
In those days, only quite wealthy families had baths of their own.
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2.
When you have or take a bath, or when you are in the bath, you sit or lie in a bath filled with water in order to wash your body.
...if you have a bath every morning...
Take a shower instead of a bath.
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3.
If you bath someone, especially a child, you wash them in a bath. (BRIT)
Don’t feel you have to bath your child every day.
= bathe
VERB: V n
•
Bath is also a noun. (in AM, use bathe)
The midwife gave him a warm bath.
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4.
When you bath, you have a bath. (BRIT; in AM, use bathe)
The three children all bath in the same bath water.
= bathe
VERB: V prep/adv

5.
A bath or a baths is a public building containing a swimming pool, and sometimes other facilities that people can use to have a wash or a bath.
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6.
A bath is a container filled with a particular liquid, such as a dye or an acid, in which particular objects are placed, usually as part of a manufacturing or chemical process.
...a developing photograph placed in a bath of fixer.
N-COUNT: usu with supp

shower

/ʃaʊə(r)/
(showers, showering, showered)

1.
A shower is a device for washing yourself. It consists of a pipe which ends in a flat cover with a lot of holes in it so that water comes out in a spray.
She heard him turn on the shower.
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2.
A shower is a small enclosed area containing a shower.
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3.
The showers or the shower in a place such as a sports centre is the area containing showers.
The showers are a mess...
We all stood in the women’s shower.
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4.
If you have a shower, you wash yourself by standing under a spray of water from a shower.
I think I’ll have a shower before dinner...
She took two showers a day.
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5.
If you shower, you wash yourself by standing under a spray of water from a shower.
There wasn’t time to shower or change clothes.
VERB: V

6.
A shower is a short period of rain, especially light rain.
There’ll be bright or sunny spells and scattered showers this afternoon.
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7.
You can refer to a lot of things that are falling as a shower of them.
Showers of sparks flew in all directions.
N-COUNT: usu N of n

8.
If you are showered with a lot of small objects or pieces, they are scattered over you.
They were showered with rice in the traditional manner...
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed with n

9.
If you shower a person with presents or kisses, you give them a lot of presents or kisses in a very generous and extravagant way.
He showered her with emeralds and furs...
Her parents showered her with kisses.
VERB: V n with n, V n with n

10.
A shower is a party or celebration at which the guests bring gifts.; If you refer to a group of people as a particular kind of shower, you disapprove of them. (mainly AM BRIT INFORMAL)
...a baby shower.
...a shower of wasters.
N-COUNT; N-SING: usu sing, oft N of n [disapproval]
 

bathtub

/bɑ:θtʌb, bæθ-/
(bathtubs)

A bathtub is a long, usually rectangular container which you fill with water and sit in to wash your body. (AM; in BRIT, use bath)

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