[av-uh-lanch, -lahnch] 
noun, verb, -lanched, -lanch⋅ing.| 1. | a large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward. |
| 2. | anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity: an avalanche of misfortunes; an avalanche of fan mail. |
| 3. | Also called Townsend avalanche. Physics, Chemistry. a cumulative ionization process in which the ions and electrons of one generation undergo collisions that produce a greater number of ions and electrons in succeeding generations. |
| 4. | to come down in, or like, an avalanche. |
| 5. | to overwhelm with an extremely large amount of anything; swamp. |
| av·a·lanche (āv'ə-lānch') n.
v. intr. To fall or slide in a massive or overwhelming amount. v. tr. To overwhelm; inundate. [French; akin to Provençal lavanca, ravine, perhaps ultimately from Latin lābī, to slip.] |