v.
- satisfy (thirst) by drinking.
- satisfy (a desire).
- extinguish (a fire).
▸rapidly cool (hot metal).
- stifle (a feeling).
▸dated reduce to silence.
- Physics & Electronics suppress or damp (luminescence, an oscillation, etc.).
n.
an act of quenching something very hot.
Derivative
- quenchable adj.
- quencher n.
- quenchless adj. (literary).
Etymology
OE -cwencan (in acwencan ‘put out, extinguish’), of Gmc origin.