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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.

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