Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To place under water.
  • intransitive verb To cover with water; inundate.
  • intransitive verb To hide from view; obscure.
  • intransitive verb To go under or as if under water.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To put under water; plunge.
  • To cover or overflow with water; inundate; drown.
  • To sink under water; be buried or covered, as by a fluid; sink out of sight.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To put under water; to plunge.
  • transitive verb To cover or overflow with water; to inundate; to flood; to drown.
  • intransitive verb To plunge into water or other fluid; to be buried or covered, as by a fluid; to be merged; hence, to be completely included.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To sink out of sight.
  • verb transitive To put into a liquid; to immerse; to plunge into and keep in.
  • verb transitive To be engulfed in or with something.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb sink below the surface; go under or as if under water
  • verb put under water
  • verb cover completely or make imperceptible
  • verb fill or cover completely, usually with water

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin submergere : sub-, sub- + mergere, to plunge.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin submergere, from sub- ("under") + mergere ("to plunge").

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Examples

  • Way back in 1966, when he first began assuming leadership of the organization he'd come to re-brand as the Family, he sent out a memo declaring that the time had come to "submerge" the group's public profile.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2009

  • I felt like I was part of a movement and wanted to submerge myself in gay culture.

    Times Two Kristen Henderson 2011

  • The style of writing in the Guardian really helps submerge you into the places described, which can also be a great escape from the day's creative chaos.

    Good to meet you … Rebecca Spriggs 2011

  • In March 2006, he warned that a tsunami could submerge and destroy the diesel engines that pump cooling water to nuclear plants—something that happened at Fukushima Daiichi.

    Lawmaker Broached Plant Risk 2011

  • Whales have blowholes on the top of their heads because they submerge themselves, and hippos have giant, high placed nostrils for the same reason.

    Movie Review: Avatar and a Comparison I « Colleen Anderson 2010

  • Even though there is not enough water in the bowl to submerge large deposits, pull the lever and the deposits, loose towels, and a couple of stray cats will all disappear violently.

    Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » All Our Shower Heads In My House Have Been Hacked 2009

  • Because place is such a major part of my writing and life, I thought it important that Bird Cloud breathe in and out of the landscape, a house subject not only to the wind, but to the drowning shadows that submerge it every evening and the sharp slice of sunlight at the eastern end of the cliff.

    Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011

  • History teaches us that unity is strength, and cautions us to submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for common goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to true African brotherhood and unity...

    Alemayehu G. Mariam: Referendum for Sudan, Requiem for Africa Alemayehu G. Mariam 2011

  • Today we merge Washington's birthday with the birthdays of other presidents and submerge them all in clothing and appliance sales.

    The Original American Idol John R. Miller 2011

  • At 17.5 feet, waters begin to submerge Harriet Island Park across the river from downtown.

    Minn. flooding could force thousands to relocate 2011

Comments

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  • Antony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 5:

    "Half my Egypt were submerg'd and made / A cestern for scal'd snakes."

    September 2, 2009