pour down the drain
Dispose via sink
To pour something down the drain is to waste it completely, treating something valuable as worthless refuse: All that work, poured down the drain.
The image is of liquid disappearing irretrievably into plumbing.
Money, time, effort, and opportunities are commonly poured down the drain.
The phrase emphasizes not just loss but careless or preventable loss.
- fritter awayWaste by small degrees
- sinkBasin with drain
- squanderUse up carelessly
- liquidFree-flowing substance
- wasteUnwanted discarded material
go to waste · futility · lost cause · lose · mishandle · spill · flow · flush · water · contamination · discard · opportunity · missed opportunity · drip · potential · splash · talent · mismanagement