sunkenadj.
/ˈsʌŋkən/, U.S. /ˈsəŋkən/ 1.
a. That has fallen to the bottom of the sea or other body of water; (more generally) that has fallen below the surface of, or become submerged in, a liquid.
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society > travel > travel by water > shipwreck > [adjective] > sinking > sunk
sunken1489
sunk1578
foundered1699
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iii. l. 417 Iamys of Dowglas..Fand a litill sonkyn bate.
1578 W. Bourne Treasure for Traueilers iv. viii. f.17 Then it will waygh or lyfte the sunken Shyppe from the bottome.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V i. ii. 165 As rich..As is the owse and bottome of the sea With sunken wrack and shiplesse treasurie.
1656 N. Chewney Anti-Socinianism 161 That silly, and shipwrackt Seaman, who dived so long for a piece of his sunken treasure, that he was at once deprived both of life and fortune.
1787 Worcester (Mass.) Mag. Apr. 38/2 The British are fortifying their posts in Canada, and..raising their sunken vessels in the Lake, in order to repair and fit for use.
1861 Athenæum 6 July 17/1 He fights his way to a pair of epaulettes, a beautiful wife, and to all the treasures of a sunken galleon.
1892 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 197/2 All sunken ships in that part of the sea quickly become overladen by thick débris.
1963 Daily Tel. 22 July 11/8 Teams of frogmen and frogwomen from all parts of Britain searched the sea and two lakes yesterday for a trail of clues leading to three sunken ‘treasure’ chests.
2003 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 8 Nov. e2 The modern swizzle stick was invented in the 1930s... One end was pointed to spear sunken olives or cherries.
2010 Art Q. Winter 36/2 Riches salvaged from the sunken wreck of a Spanish Armada ship..which foundered off the north coast of Ireland in 1588.
b. Of rocks, tracts of land, etc.: lying below the level of surrounding water; covered with water, submerged.
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the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > condition of being submerged or action of submerging > [adjective]
sunken1578
sunka1584
drowned1616
underwater1627
submersed1684
submerged1697
whelmeda1821
1578 G. Best True Disc. Voy. Discouerie M. Frobisher iii. 44 The Anne Frances came agrounde vppon..a suncken Rocke within the Harborough.
1653 Descr. & Plat Sea-coasts Eng. 7 In the middest of the Havens mouth lyes a suncken rocky and stony ground, which you must avoid.
1743 J. Bulkeley & J. Cummins Voy. to South-seas 118 The Tide running rampant, and in a great Swell, every where surrounded with sunken Rocks.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. xv. 264 The Bell Rock is a sunken reef, consisting of red sandstone.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species xi. 357 In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked..by rings of coral or atolls standing over them.
1920 Pacific Islands Pilot (ed. 2) 112 Homedebua Peak bearing 27° will lead midway between Peterson Reefs and the sunken heads extending southwestward from Unda Point.
2015 Austral. Financial Rev. (Nexis) 30 May 16 A lone concrete platform at one end of the sunken reef, built and maintained by the Chinese navy, was the only sign it was an area of strategic interest.
2. Of a person's eyes, cheeks, etc.: having the appearance of having sunk into the face; unusually hollow or deeply set, esp. because of tiredness, illness, or old age. Also: (of a look, glance, etc.) characterized by this appearance. Cf. sunk adj. 2.Much more common than sunk since the middle of the 19th cent.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > [adjective] > in state of ill health or diseased > looking ill
wanc700
sunken?a1505
wersh?a1505
wearisha1535
waryish1565
sunk1578
chap-fallen1597
chop-fallen1604
squalid1661
sallow1747
sallowish1753
peaked1804
shilpit1813
shirpit1821
peely-wally1832
peakish1836
a1505 R. Henryson Test. Cresseid l. 157 in Poems (1981) 116 His ene drowpit, how sonkin in his heid.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. ii. 362 A leane cheeke..: a blew eie and sunken . View more context for this quotation
1688 tr. Elegies of Old Age 12 My sunken Eyes can scarce discover day.
1727 N. Robinson New Method treating Consumptions i. v. 68 This Disposition is most commonly distinguish'd by..a sunken dead Look, through whose Veins the Blood appears of a pale, light, blue Hue.
1799 C. B. Brown Ormond xvii. 197 Her visage was serene, but sunken and pale. Death was in every line of it.
1825 W. Scott Betrothed xiv, in Tales Crusaders II. 289 Her eyes were sunken, and had lost much of their bold and roguish lustre.
1844 E. B. Barrett Poems II. 128 They look up with their pale and sunken faces.
1919 Good Housekeeping July 36/1 Encountering this inexplicable forerunner of a wink in the doctor's deep, sunken glance, she was inclined to be confused.
1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After i. iii The deep lines in his sunken cheeks seemed to threaten a general subsidence of the whole flesh.
2005 L. Brito in L. Davies Urban Welsh 26 The sunken eyes of elderly shoppers on the supermarket free-bus.
3. figurative. That is in a weakened or diminished condition; spec. (of a person's spirits) depressed, low.
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the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > [adjective] > harmed or affected detrimentally
annoyedc1330
infectc1384
palledc1390
harmedc1440
hinderedc1440
weakened1548
maimed1570
interessed1598
crazy1601
impaired1611
wronged1632
appaired1637
deboist1641
sunken1642
vitiated1660
crippled1674
wounded1692
etiolated1847
injured1857
murdered1876
dicked-up1967
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [adjective] > of the heart or spirits
leadya1536
sunk1601
sunken1642
sombrous1751
sombre1821
1642 D. Rogers Naaman 861 The love of God..could not cease, till it had discovered it selfe to poore sunken Adam.
1787 Princ. Brit. Policy v. 59 Let them say—The sunken spirit of this country will hear them patiently,—that every thought of recovering our station in Europe must be abandoned.
1864 J. R. Lowell Fireside Trav. 267 So gathered the hoarse Northern swarms to descend upon sunken Italy.
1888 R. Bennett Poems & Prose 154 The liquor had the effect of reviving his sunken spirits.
1962 H. H. Hoeltje Inward Sky v. 161 Still, at times, he tried to raise his sunken hopes.
2005 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 20 Nov. a14 Even in our present rather sunken condition of public life, the vast majority of people are prepared to distinguish right from wrong.
2012 Daily Universe (Brigham Young Univ.) (Nexis) 18 Jan. 1 The Events Team is organizing a night of fun and games to lift sunken spirits and take control of January.
4.
a. That has sunk or fallen in below its normal or expected level; subsided.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > [adjective] > sinking down > that has sunk
subsided1650
sunken1663
settled1751
swagged1825
1663 D. Collins tr. M. P. Escholt Geologia Norvegica v. 46 Some Earthquakes make the earth to sink lower down then it was before: and it never riseth up again, but remains always such a low and sunken Land.
1757 J. Mitchell Contest Amer. between Great Brit. & France iv. 152 The situation of the place in the midst of high mountains, or sunken morasses, on all sides.
1781 R. E. Raspe tr. G. E. Lessing Nathan the Wise v. vi. 96 We found ourselves on the sunken steps of an altar in decay.
1832 G. Downes Lett. from Continental Countries I. 418 The Arch of Constantine..stands on a sunken area, enclosed by a wall.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge i. 230 Its floors were sunken and uneven.
1932 Pop. Mech. Feb. 307/2 With the use of a pinch bar or a heavy claw hammer and a woodscrew, sunken floorboards can easily be repaired.
2016 Washington Post (Nexis) 4 Sept. a3 She drove through block after block of unemployed men and women sitting on the front porches of dingy homes with sunken roofs.
b. Hanging limply; drooping; sagging.
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the world > space > relative position > support > hanging or suspension > [adjective] > hanging down > drooping or hanging limply
droop?1507
flagging1540
sag1541
lolling1567
flaggy1576
fagged1578
flag1591
drooping1600
slouching1611
emarcid1661
flaggish1669
slouchy1693
tangly1812
sunken1823
adroop1833
saggy1853
loppy1855
floppy1858
drooped1873
flippy-floppy1905
1823 J. Cumberlege tr. Voltaire 7th Canto Henriade 8 Pallid Cowardice, with sunken form [Fr. aux regards abattus], That strives all manly virtue to deform.
1890 A. Conan Doyle White Company xxxviii With crossed ankles and sunken head, he sat as though all his life had passed out of him.
1934 D. Davidson Poems 1922–61 45 The sunken flag would kindle on wild hills, The brooding hearts would waken, and the dream Stir like a crippled phantom under the pines.
2016 Coastal Views (Queensland) (Nexis) 19 Feb. 18 [They] were really dejected at the end of it, walking off with sunken heads.
5. At a lower level than the surrounding area.
a. Designating work produced in various crafts in which depression below the level of a surrounding surface is a feature; made by or used in work of this kind. Cf. sunk adj. 4b.Sunk is more common in this sense.
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the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > [adjective]
hollowa1250
holkedc1420
howea1500
deep-set1562
depressed1658
depressc1660
sunken1683
recessed1757
sunk1766
niche-like1841
retreating1878
sucken1878
the world > space > relative position > low position > [adjective] > lower in position > than surrounding parts
sunk-in1611
sunk1633
sunken1683
sunken1791
1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 153 To make the Face of the Sunken Letter, lie an exact designed depth below the Face of the Matrice, and on all its sides equally deep from the Face of the Matrice.
1836 London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. Conjoined Ser. 8 245 A sort of grooved or sunken engraving.
1845 P. Barlow Manuf. in Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 613/1 The Ancients employed a sunken die.
1915 Monumental News Oct. 581/3 The leaves and the sunken decoration are in harmony with other parts of the stone.
1984 Philadelphia Museum of Art Bull. 80 18 The areas of paper pressed into the sunken carving took no color, so that the design was left in white against the colored background.
2006 Islamic Stud. 45 271 The walls of the building were relieved with sunken panels.
b. Constructed below the level of the surrounding land or floor. Frequently in, e.g., sunken bath, sunken living-room (see also sunken storey n., sunken fence n., sunken garden n. at Compounds 2). Cf. sunk adj. 4a.More common than sunk in this sense.Recorded earliest in sunken storey n. at Compounds 2.
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the world > space > relative position > low position > [adjective] > lower in position > than surrounding parts
sunk-in1611
sunk1633
sunken1683
sunken1791
1791 J. Bentham Panopticon Postscr. i. xxiii. 319 I leave a round hole, say 4 inches in diameter, passing through the brick-work into the sunken story below.
1863 Communication Street Commissioner 62 The appearance of the Battery is anything but creditable to the city. An old sunken bath is in front of it.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby v. 110 Through dressing-rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms with sunken baths.
1976 M. Machlin Pipeline xxxvii. 408 The entrance hall, which gave onto a white-carpeted, sunken living-room, looked as though a regiment of cavalry had galloped through it.
1985 K. Clark Golden Days x. 155 The next thing they had noticed was the small sunken hot tub bubbling invitingly in one corner.
2016 Times (Nexis) 25 Mar. 9 The Old Rectory..has almost an acre of land, which includes lawns, trees and a sunken courtyard.
c. Military. Designating a gun emplacement or fortification situated below ground level.Recorded earliest in sunken battery n. at Compounds 2.
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1817 C. W. Pasley Course Mil. Instr. II. ix. 153 There is another kind of field battery also very frequently used, which is called a sunken battery.
1887 Army & Navy Mag. June 160 The whole arrangement being situated in a pit or sunken emplacement.
1892 G. Philips Text Bk. Fortif. Sandhurst (ed. 5) §569 A sunken caponier tambour.
1916 Providence Mag. May 309/1 The United States guards this strategic base..by mines and sunken fortifications.
1941 Life 6 Oct. 37 (caption) Sunken machine-gun nest, at junction of runways on field.
2012 D. N. Sanders Valley of Hope 411 Rusting anti-aircraft guns, their barrels elevated skyward in never-ending vigilance, sat in sunken emplacements now camouflaged by nature.
6. Of the sun: that has gone down below the horizon, set; (of the day) finished, over, as a result of the setting of the sun.
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the world > the universe > sun > solar movement > [adjective] > having set
fallen1635
sunk1737
sunken1798
1798 S. T. Coleridge Nightingale in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 63 No cloud, no relique of the sunken day Distinguishes the West.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality v, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 95 The long train of light that follows the sunken sun.
1880 H. Cresswell Mod. Greek Heroine II. viii. 167 The sky showed every shade of blue, melting from the dark dye of the east to the pale tints fainting into the light above the sunken orb.
1921 S. Sassoon in Literary Digest 7 May 32/2 An oyster-coloured atmospheric rumpus Beats up to blot the sunken daylight's gildings.
2007 N. Gordimer Beethoven was One-sixteenth Black 81 On a terrace the sunken sun sends pale searchlights to touch a valance of clouds here and there.
Compounds
C1. Parasynthetic (in sense 2).
sunken-cheeked adj.
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1832 T. Arnold Dramatic Stories II. 36 A tall, bulky, brawny man—sunken-cheeked, grey-eyed.
1940 K. Roberts Oliver Wiswell xxvii. 238 I pictured sullen, sunken-cheeked militiamen prowling from bush to bush in that dark and watery swamp.
1999 M. Silcott Rave Amer. iii. 89 The typical picture of the hardcore UK raver in this era is one of an emaciated, sunken-cheeked, wild-eyed tweaker, gurning from too many ‘crap Es’.
sunken-chested adj.
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1860 New Albany (Indiana) Daily Ledger 14 Apr. He sees a crowd of high, thin-shouldered, sunken-chested, pale and emaciated men and women, all the various stages of bronchial and pulmonary diseases.
1917 Field Artillery Jrnl. 7 244 We are told that the college men of to-day are, as a class, drooped, round-shouldered, and sunken-chested.
2015 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 June b3 You'll find skinny little dress shirts made for sunken-chested hipsters who are in danger of being carried away by the gust from a passing bus.
sunken-eyed adj.
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1830 G. Griffin Christian Physiologist xii. 251 The drunkard is a lean and sunken-eyed being, the current of whose life is reduced to a poor half-pint.
1931 T. Dreiser Dawn il. 270 The emaciated, sunken-eyed victims of youthful excess..haunted me. For now was I not one of these?
2009 New Statesman (Nexis) 11 May 58 Many had already walked miles to reach Louisburgh..: a sunken-eyed, sallow-cheeked procession of skeletons, dehumanised by starvation.
C2.
sunken battery n. Military (now chiefly historical) a field battery whose emplacement is situated below ground level; cf. sense 5c.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > piece of artillery > [noun] > battery
battery1555
counter-battery1603
swallow's nest1604
field battery1742
radeau1753
guns en barbette1772
half-moon battery1794
sap battery1810
sunken battery1817
screw battery1848
wool-battery1852
masked battery1861
mountain battery1868
machine-gun battery1882
1817 C. W. Pasley Course Mil. Instr. II. ix. 153 There is another kind of field battery also very frequently used, which is called a sunken battery.
1818 E. Lake Jrnl. 23 Apr. (1825) iv. 103 Instead of forming a sunken battery as was intended, we were obliged to construct an elevated one.
1846 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 II. viii. 340 The rocky nature of the soil..rendered it necessary to carry up earth for the formation of an elevated, instead of a sunken battery.
2003 C. Henry Brit. Napoleonic Artillery II. 39 A sunken battery, as its name makes clear, was excavated below the level of the ground.
sunken-featured adj. Archaeology designating a dwelling which is partly dug out of the ground, so that the floor is below ground level.
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1973 Lincs. Hist. & Archaeol. 8 61 (title) An excavated Anglo-Saxon sunken-featured building and settlement site at Salmonby, Lincs 1972.
1978 Eng. Hist. Rev. 93 152 The discussion of the early Saxon sunken-featured structures ignores the possibility that these may have been simply pits under the floor of somewhat larger buildings.
2001 Oxoniensia 65 5 The road..has been identified as an 11th-century settlement focus by two fortuitous discoveries: on its east side a small sunken-featured building, and to its west a system of plot-boundaries.
sunken fence n. a ditch with a wall on its inner side below ground level, forming a boundary to a park or garden without interrupting the view; = ha-ha n.2 a; cf. sunk fence n. at sunk adj. Compounds 2.
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1793 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 1073/1 Making a sunken fence for the improvement of the prospect from the great dining-room.
1897 Lady's Realm 2 416/2 In the big graveyard, which was surrounded by a sunken fence, the mounds lay closely together.
2007 F. Delaney Tipperary 277 After the gardens, I went on a tour of the four sunken fences that border the house at a distance.
sunken-floored adj. having a sunken floor; esp. (Archaeology) designating a dwelling which is partly dug out of the ground, so that the floor is below ground level.
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1903 Z. A. Norris Color of his Soul 84 Unable to endure the sight of the interior, sunken floored, low ceilinged, reeking with uncleanliness, I walked to the window and looked out over the roofs.
1977 Britannia 8 383 Two other sunken-floored structures of the second half of the third century had similar orientations.
2002 H. Hamerow Early Medieval Settlements ii. 34 Sunken-floored dwellings were also known in nineteenth-century Somerset.
sunken garden n. a garden that lies below the general level of its surroundings, often as a feature within a larger garden or park.
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1849 Mirror Monthly Mag. Feb. 140 Although the large splashing fountains, the gilded columns, the sunken gardens with stone balustrades, are all remarkably pretty in their way, I consider myself rather more worth looking at than any of them.
1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags ii. 110 The stream had been diverted, the old mill pool drained and levelled and made into a sunken garden.
2013 D. Solomon Amer. Mirror ix. 115 The living room opened onto a wide terrace that overlooked a sunken garden composed of hundreds of pink and red rosebushes.
sunken storey n. a storey of a building below ground level; a basement.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > [noun] > floor or storey > below ground level
basement1730
sunk storey1769
below stairs1771
sunken storey1791
1791 J. Bentham Panopticon Postscr. i. xxiii. 319 I leave a round hole, say 4 inches in diameter, passing through the brick-work into the sunken story below.
1860 Illustr. London News 25 Feb. 187/3 Unless the window be on the sunken story.
1906 K. Tynan Story of Bawn 205 I saw now that there was a sunken storey with a sort of area that ran all round the house.
1998 B. Cherry Pevsner's London 4: North 272 The building ingeniously extends N with two sunken storeys below a lawn on a level with the S cloister.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1489