This verb means to sink or cause to sink, to plunge into the depths. Classical Greek used it for sinking ships, drowning people, or overwhelming cities with floods. The New Testament employs it both literally and metaphorically. Luke describes fishermen whose boats 'began to sink' from the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:7), while Paul warns that those desiring wealth 'plunge themselves into destruction and perdition' (1 Tim 6:9). The passive forms in both passages emphasize the progressive process: boats beginning to go down under weight, people sinking into ruin through greed. The verb captures both physical submersion and metaphorical overwhelming.