Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Flood?

\Flood\, 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. 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. --Shak. 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\, v. 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.