Crossword Genius

Swelled, one pulled from drain, exhausted (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trebled

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'swelled' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'one pulled from drain exhausted' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'pulled from' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'drain' becomes 'tire' (tiring is a kind of draining).
'exhausted' becomes 'bled' (to exhaust something might be to bleed it dry).
'tire' with 'i' taken away is 'tre'.
'tre'+'bled'='TREBLED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for trebled that I've seen before include "Increased threefold" , "produced twice as much again" , "Multiplied by three" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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