flood
a great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.
any great outpouring or stream: a flood of emotions;a flood of requests;a flood of patients.
the Flood, a universal deluge recorded in the Bible as having occurred in the days of Noah. Genesis 7.
the rise or flowing in of the tide (opposed to ebb).
a floodlight.
Archaic. a large body of water.
to overflow in or cover with a flood; fill to overflowing: Don't flood the bathtub.
to cover or fill, as if with a flood: The road was flooded with cars.
to overwhelm with an abundance of something: to be flooded with mail.
Automotive. to supply too much fuel to (the carburetor), so that the engine fails to start.
to floodlight.
to flow or pour in or as if in a flood.
to rise in a flood; overflow.
Pathology.
to suffer uterine hemorrhage, especially in connection with childbirth.
to have an excessive menstrual flow.
Origin of flood
1synonym study For flood
Other words for flood
Other words from flood
- flood·a·ble, adjective
- flood·er, noun
- flood·less, adjective
- flood·like, adjective
- o·ver·flood, verb
- pre·flood, adjective
- un·der·flood, verb
- un·flood·ed, adjective
- well-flood·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for flood (1 of 3)
/ (flʌd) /
the inundation of land that is normally dry through the overflowing of a body of water, esp a river
the state of a river that is at an abnormally high level (esp in the phrase in flood): Related adjective: diluvial
a great outpouring or flow: a flood of words
the rising of the tide from low to high water
(as modifier): the flood tide Compare ebb (def. 3)
theatre short for floodlight
archaic a large body of water, as the sea or a river
(of water) to inundate or submerge (land) or (of land) to be inundated or submerged
to fill or be filled to overflowing, as with a flood: the children's home was flooded with gifts
(intr) to flow; surge: relief flooded through him
to supply an excessive quantity of petrol to (a carburettor or petrol engine) or (of a carburettor, etc) to be supplied with such an excess
(intr) to rise to a flood; overflow
(intr)
to bleed profusely from the uterus, as following childbirth
to have an abnormally heavy flow of blood during a menstrual period
Origin of flood
1Derived forms of flood
- floodable, adjective
- flooder, noun
- floodless, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for Flood (2 of 3)
/ (flʌd) /
the Flood Old Testament the flood extending over all the earth from which Noah and his family and livestock were saved in the ark. (Genesis 7–8); the Deluge
British Dictionary definitions for Flood (3 of 3)
/ (flʌd) /
Henry . 1732–91, Anglo-Irish politician: leader of the parliamentary opposition to English rule
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for flood
[ flŭd ]
A temporary rise of the water level, as in a river or lake or along a seacoast, resulting in its spilling over and out of its natural or artificial confines onto land that is normally dry. Floods are usually caused by excessive runoff from precipitation or snowmelt, or by coastal storm surges or other tidal phenomena.♦ Floods are sometimes described according to their statistical occurrence. A fifty-year flood is a flood having a magnitude that is reached in a particular location on average once every fifty years. In any given year there is a two percent statistical chance of the occurrence of a fifty-year flood and a one percent chance of a hundred-year flood.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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