flood
/flʌd/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms floods flooding flooded the Flood floud Flud
- noun An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.
- noun (figuratively) A large number or quantity of anything appearing more rapidly than can easily be dealt with. “a flood of complaints”
- noun The flowing in of the tide, opposed to the ebb.
- noun A floodlight.
- noun Menstrual discharge; menses.
- noun (obsolete) Water as opposed to land.
- verb To overflow, as by water from excessive rainfall. “People flooded into the streets in protest.”
- verb To cover or partly fill as if by a flood. “The floor was flooded with beer.”
- verb (figuratively) To provide (someone or something) with a larger number or quantity of something than can easily be dealt with. “The station's switchboard was flooded with listeners making complaints.”
- verb (Internet, ambitransitive) To paste numerous lines of text to (a chat system) in order to disrupt the conversation.
- verb To bleed profusely, as after childbirth.
- proper noun (biblical) The flood referred to in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
overfill inundate swamp deluge spam inundation alluvion torrent floodlight flood lamp photoflood overflow outpouring flowage flood tide rising tide oversupply glut
Antonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English flod, from Old English flōd, from Proto-West Germanic *flōdu, from Proto-Germanic *flōduz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)-. Cognate with Scots flude, fluid, Saterland Frisian Floud, Dutch vloed, German Flut, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish flod, Icelandic flóð, and Gothic 𐍆𐌻𐍉𐌳𐌿𐍃 (flōdus).
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun The flowing in of the tide; the semidiurnal swell or rise of water in the ocean; --opposed to ebb; as, young flood; high flood.
- verb To overflow; to inundate; to deluge; as, the swollen river flooded the valley.
- verb 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.
Etymology [OE. flod a flowing, stream, flood, AS. flod; akin to D. vloed, OS. flod, OHG. fluot, G. flut, Icel. floedh, Sw. & Dan. flod, Goth. flodus; from the root of E. flow. sq. root80. See Flow, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flood”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details