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Webster 1913 Edition

Flood

Flood

(flŭd)
,
Noun.
[OE.
flod
a flowing, stream, flood, AS.
flōd
; akin to D.
vloed
, OS.
flōd
, OHG.
fluot
, G.
flut
, Icel.
flōð
, Sw. & Dan.
flod
, Goth.
flōdus
; from the root of E.
flow
. √80. See
Flow
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
A great flow of water; a body of moving water; the flowing stream, as of a river; especially, a body of water, rising, swelling, and overflowing land not usually thus covered; a deluge; a freshet; an inundation.
A covenant never to destroy
The earth again by
flood
.
Milton.
2.
The flowing in of the tide; the semidiurnal swell or rise of water in the ocean; – opposed to
ebb
;
as, young
flood
; high
flood
.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the
flood
, leads on to fortune.
Shakespeare
3.
A great flow or stream of any fluid substance;
as, a
flood
of light; a
flood
of lava
; hence, a great quantity widely diffused; an overflowing; a superabundance;
as, a
flood
of bank notes; a
flood
of paper currency.
4.
Menstrual disharge; menses.
Harvey.
Flood anchor
(Naut.)
, the anchor by which a ship is held while the tide is rising.
–
Flood fence
,
a fence so secured that it will not be swept away by a flood.
–
Flood gate
,
a gate for shutting out, admitting, or releasing, a body of water; a tide gate.
–
Flood mark
,
the mark or line to which the tide, or a flood, rises; high-water mark.
–
Flood tide
,
the rising tide; – opposed to
ebb tide
.
–
The Flood
,
the deluge in the days of Noah.

Flood

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Flooded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Flooding
.]
1.
To overflow; to inundate; to deluge;
as, the swollen river
flooded
the valley
.
2.
To cause or permit to be inundated; to fill or cover with water or other fluid;
as, to
flood
arable land for irrigation
; to fill to excess or to its full capacity;
as, to
flood
a country with a depreciated currency
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Flood

FLOOD

,
Noun.
flud.
1.
A great flow of water; a body of moving water; particularly, a body of water, rising, swelling and overflowing land not usually covered with water. Thus there is a flood, every spring, in the Connecticut, which inundates the adjacent meadows. There is an annual flood in the Nile, and in the Mississippi.
2.
The flood, by way of eminence, the deluge; the great body of water which inundated the earth in the days of Noah. Before the flood, men live to a great age.
3.
A river; a sense chiefly poetical.
4.
The flowing of the tide; the semi-diurnal swell or rise of water in the ocean; opposed to ebb. The ship entered the harbor on the flood. Hence flood-tide; young flood; high flood.
5.
A great quantity; an inundation; an overflowing; abundance; superabundance; as a flood of bank notes; a flood of paper currency.
6.
A great body or stream of any fluid substance; as a flood of light; a flood of lava. Hence, figuratively, a flood of vice.
7.
Menstrual discharge.

FLOOD

,
Verb.
T.
To overflow; to inundate; to deluge; as, to flood a meadow.

Definition 2024

Flood

Flood

See also: flood

English

Proper noun

Flood

  1. (biblical) The flood referred to in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament.

Synonyms

flood

flood

See also: Flood

English

Alternative forms

Noun

flood ‎(plural floods)

  1. A (usually disastrous) overflow of water from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      a covenant never to destroy the earth again by flood
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterII:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.
    • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:
      Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.
  2. (figuratively) A large number or quantity of anything appearing more rapidly than can easily be dealt with.
    a flood of complaints‎
  3. The flowing in of the tide, opposed to the ebb.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
  4. A floodlight.
  5. Menstrual discharge; menses.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Harvey to this entry?)
  6. (obsolete) Water as opposed to land.
    • 1460-1500, The Towneley Playsː
      I see that it is good; now make we man to our likeness, that shall be keeper of mere & leas(ow), of fowls and fish in flood.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
      Who beheld from the safe shore their floating carcasses and broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrown, abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, under amazement of their hideous change.

Related terms

Derived terms

See also

Translations

Verb

flood ‎(third-person singular simple present floods, present participle flooding, simple past and past participle flooded)

  1. To overflow, as by water from excessive rainfall.
  2. To cover or partly fill as if by a flood.
    The floor was flooded with beer.
    They flooded the room with sewage.
  3. (figuratively) To provide (someone or something) with a larger number or quantity of something than cannot easily be dealt with.
    The station's switchboard was flooded with listeners making complaints.
    • 2011 October 1, David Ornstein, “Blackburn 0 - 4 Man City”, in BBC Sport:
      Blackburn offered nothing going forward in the opening period and that continued after the break, encouraging City to flood forward.
  4. (Internet, computing) To paste numerous lines of text to a chat system in order to disrupt the conversation.

Synonyms

Translations

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Oxford-Paravia Concise - Dizionario Inglese-Italiano e Italiano-Inglese. Edited by Maria Cristina Bareggi. Torino: Paravia, 2003 (in collaboration with Oxford University Press). ISBN 8839551107. Online version here

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English flood.

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈflɐd͡ʒ/

Noun

flood m (plural floods)

  1. (Internet slang) a flood of superfluous text messages

Related terms

Etymology

From Middle English flod, from Old English flōd, from Proto-Germanic *flōduz, from Proto-Indo-European *plōtus, derived from *plew- ‎(“to flow”). Near cognates include Scots flude, fluid, Saterland Frisian Floud, Dutch vloed, German Flut, Danish flod, Icelandic flóð, and Gothic 𐍆𐌻𐍉𐌳𐌿𐍃 ‎(flōdus).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: flŭd, IPA(key): /flʌd/
  • Rhymes: -ʌd

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