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Webster 1913 Edition


Deluge

Del′uge

(dĕl′ū̍j)
,
Noun.
[F.
déluge
, L.
diluvium
, fr.
diluere
wash away;
di-
=
dis-
+
luere
, equiv. to
lavare
to wash. See
Lave
, and cf.
Diluvium
.]
1.
A washing away; an overflowing of the land by water; an inundation; a flood; specifically, The Deluge, the great flood in the days of Noah (
Gen. vii.
).
2.
Fig.: Anything which overwhelms, or causes great destruction.
“The deluge of summer.”
Lowell.
A fiery
deluge
fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
Milton.
As I grub up some quaint old fragment of a [London] street, or a house, or a shop, or tomb or burial ground, which has still survived in the
deluge
.
F. Harrison.
After me the
deluge
.
(Aprés moi le déluge.)
Madame de Pompadour.

Del′uge

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Deluged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Deluging
.]
1.
To overflow with water; to inundate; to overwhelm.
The
deluged
earth would useless grow.
Blackmore.
2.
To overwhelm, as with a deluge; to cover; to overspread; to overpower; to submerge; to destroy;
as, the northern nations
deluged
the Roman empire with their armies; the land is
deluged
with woe.
At length corruption, like a general flood . . .
Shall
deluge
all.
Pope.

Webster 1828 Edition


Deluge

DELUGE

,
Noun.
[L. To wash.]
1.
Any overflowing of water; an inundation; a flood; a swell of water over the natural banks of a river or shore of the ocean, spreading over the adjacent land. But appropriately, the great flood or overflowing of the earth by water, in the days of Noah; according to the common chronology, Anno Mundi, 1656. Gen 6.
2.
A sweeping or overwhelming calamity.

DELUGE

, v.t.
1.
To overflow with water; to inundate; to drown. The waters deluged the earth and destroyed the old world.
2.
To overwhelm; to cover with any flowing or moving, spreading body. The Northern nations deluged the Roman empire with their armies.
3.
To overwhelm; to cause to sink under the weight of a general or spreading calamity; as, the land is deluged with corruption.

Definition 2024


Deluge

Deluge

See also: deluge and déluge

English

Proper noun

Deluge

  1. (biblical) The Biblical flood during the time of Noah.

Translations

deluge

deluge

See also: Deluge and déluge

English

Noun

deluge (plural deluges)

  1. A great flood or rain.
    The deluge continued for hours, drenching the land and slowing traffic to a halt.
  2. An overwhelming amount of something; anything that overwhelms or causes great destruction.
    The rock concert was a deluge of sound.
    • Milton
      A fiery deluge fed / With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
    • Lowell
      The little bird sits at his door in the sun, / Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, / And lets his illumined being o'errun / With the deluge of summer it receives.
  3. (Military engineering) A damage control system on navy warships which is activated by excessive temperature within the Vertical Launching System.
    • NAVEDTRA 14324A
      In the event of a restrained firing or canister overtemperature condition, the deluge system sprays cooling water within the canister until the overtemperature condition no longer exists.

Translations

Verb

deluge (third-person singular simple present deluges, present participle deluging, simple past and past participle deluged)

  1. (transitive) To flood with water.
  2. (transitive) To overwhelm.
    After the announcement, they were deluged with requests for more information.

Translations

References

  • 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192830988

See also


Old French

Noun

deluge m (oblique plural deluges, nominative singular deluges, nominative plural deluge)

  1. large flood

Descendants