- Flood
- Flood Flood (fl[u^]d), n. [OE. flod a flowing, stream, flood,
AS. fl[=o]d; akin to D. vloed, OS. fl[=o]d, OHG. fluot, G.
flut, Icel. fl[=o][eth], Sw. & Dan. flod, Goth. fl[=o]dus;
from the root of E. flow. [root]80. See {Flow}, v. 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.
[1913 Webster]
A covenant never to destroy The earth again by flood. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
4. Menstrual disharge; menses. --Harvey. [1913 Webster]
{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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
