[pa. pple. of SINK v.]
In present usage this form of the pa. pple. in adj. use tends to be restricted to senses implying deliberate human agency. e.g., sunk fence; contrast sunken cheeks, sunken rocks. (Cf. shrunk and shrunken.)
1. = SUNKEN 2. Now rare.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. iii. (1495), e vj b. Soo the vtter partyes ben vneuyn wyth holownes sonke and had partes areryd.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, Sec. Sounding 4. This is it, That our sunke eyes haue wak’t for.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Elevatoire, The broken, and sunk-in parts of the scull. Ibid., s.v. Have, Hollow, sad, or sunke-in eyes.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 646. Sunk were his Eyes, his Voice was harsh and loud.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), II. 131. He went about as a ghost, with the visage of death upon him. Such a sunk, spiritless countenance he had.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xxviii. Her temples were sunk, her forehead was tense.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., ii. His strong features, sunk cheeks, and hollow eyes.
1833. J. Davidson, Embalming, 14. Many of their Mummies … are of a dark tanned colour,… the features distinct, the belly sunk.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess, xxxvi. The sunk corners of her mouth.
Comb. a. 1601. ? Marston, Pasquil & Kath. (1878), I. 9. The yellow tooth’d, sunck-eyed, gowtie shankt Vsurer.
1624. Massinger, Parl. Love, IV. iii. We’ll show these shallow fools sunk-eyed despair.
2. Lowered in character, intensity, value, etc. Now rare or Obs. a. Depraved, degenerate.
1680. H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 97. A thing that sunk flesh and blood are too incredulous of. Ibid. (1681), in Glanvill’s Sadducismus, Postscr. 38. The vilest reproach against the God of Israel … that … the dulness of any sunk Soul can stumble upon.
1868. W. R. Greg, Lit. & Soc. Judgm., 132. She is punished … as the most sunk of sinners.
b. Degraded or reduced in status or value.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 274. Who raised again their sunk ancient Family … by their valour only.
1731. Swift, Presbyt. Plea of Merit, Wks. 1841, II. 241/2. A sunk, discarded party.
1893. Daily News, 10 May, 5/2. The Bank of New Zealand, some time ago, cut adrift its sunk investments.
c. Of the spirits: Depressed, low.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. (Globe), 471. I was exceedingly sunk in my Spirits.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxxviii. I saw his daughter’s form once more before me in flesh and blood, though with diminished beauty and sunk spirits.
3. = SUNKEN 1.
1799. Kirwan, Geol. Ess., 40. Arresting by their initial softness the various sunk woods and such other vegetable or animal substances.
1806. Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2), 20. It has a sandy shore, with sunk rocks.
1828. J. Macdonald, in Tweedie, Life, ii. (1849), 93. Here is the sunk rock of legalism.
1829. T. Castle, Introd. Bot., III. § i. 56. Nomenclature of the leaf…. Sunk—submerged or immersed, entirely under water.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. V. vi. So has History written … of the sunk Vengeur.
1898. H. Newbolt, Island Race, 14.
| Into the narrowing channel, between the shore | |
| And the sunk torpedoes lying in treacherous rank; | |
| She turned but a yard too short; a muffled roar, | |
| A mountainous wave, and she rolled, righted, and sank. |
b. spec. applied to submerged tracts of land.
1830. Act 11 Geo. IV., & 1 Will. IV., c. 59 § 20. A certain Estate called Sunk Island, situate in the River Humber.
1849. Lyell, 2nd Visit U. S., II. 236. The ‘sunk country’ … extends along the course of the White Water and its tributaries.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Sunk Land, shallows and swamps.
1915. Contemp. Rev., Dec., 770. Wide areas … collapsed into sunklands and inland seas.
4. a. Placed on a lower level than that of the surroundings.
1633. Stafford, Pac. Hib., I. iv. 30. Captaine Iohn Bostocke … espied the Morians of some of the suncke ambush in the Glinn.
b. In modern technical use, applied to a surface or area lowered, or to an object let in, so as to lie below the general surface, or to work of which depression of level is a principal feature; as sunk carving, cistern, panel, etc.
Sunk cell, a cavity in a microscopic slide, to receive the object examined. Sunk coak, a groove in the face of a timber, into which a coak or tenon is fitted to form a joint (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875). Sunk fence, = HA-HA sb.2 Sunk-head, (Typogr.) the blank space at the head of a chapter (Knight). Sunk key, a pin or cotter fitting into a groove on the shaft in which it is used. Sunk shelf, a shelf with a groove to prevent plates or dishes slipping off when stood on their edges (Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., 1842). Sunk story, a story below ground level, a basement. Sunk work (Masonry): see quot.
1875. Sir T. Seaton, Fret Carving, 143. It may be called *Sunk Carving; for, contrary to the usual method, the carving is sunk, whilst the ground is left at its original level.
1890. Science-Gossip, XXVI. 163. The object may be placed … in a watch-glass, or a *sunk cell.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, etc., 1203. The earthen floor is excavated to form the molasses reservoir…. The bottom holes … allow the molasses to drain slowly downwards into the *sunk cistern.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), IV. 288. The contiguous ground of the park without the *sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within.
1803. [see HA-HA sb.2].
1845. Dickens, Chimes, iii. 119. You may see the cottage from the sunk fence over yonder.
1835. R. Willis, Archit. Mid. Ages, vi. 65. A row of small *sunk pannels upon the space between the dripstone and window head.
a. 1835. Rickman, Styles Archit. (1848), 127. The interior is … ornamented with *sunk panelling.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 254. With a *sunk seconds the hour hand may be closer to the dial than it otherwise could.
1791. Bentham, Panopt., I. 89. Staircases … from the *sunk story below the Cells to the upper story of the Cells.
1840. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. to J. Forster, Aug. The sunk-story of this respectable, æsthetic house.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1104. The door … to have a *sunk thumb sneck.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 316. *Sunk-work is that which has been partly chiselled away, as the tops of window-cills, &c.
5. Of the sun: = SUNKEN 3 b. rare.
1908. Rider Haggard, Ghost Kings, xvii. 239. The light from the sunk sun.
