Nearby Words

floods

[fluhd] Origin

flood

[fluhd]
noun
1.
a great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.
2.
any great outpouring or stream: a flood of tears.
3.
the Flood, the universal deluge recorded as having occurred in the days of Noah. Gen. 7.
4.
the rise or flowing in of the tide (opposed to ebb).
EXPAND
6.
Archaic. a large body of water.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
7.
to overflow in or cover with a flood; fill to overflowing: Don't flood the bathtub.
8.
to cover or fill, as if with a flood: The road was flooded with cars.
9.
to overwhelm with an abundance of something: to be flooded with mail.
10.
Automotive. to supply too much fuel to (the carburetor), so that the engine fails to start.
11.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Floods is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
verb (used without object)
12.
to flow or pour in or as if in a flood.
13.
to rise in a flood; overflow.
14.
Pathology.
a.
to suffer uterine hemorrhage, especially in connection with childbirth.
b.
to have an excessive menstrual flow.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English flod (noun), Old English flōd; cognate with Gothic flōdus, Old High German fluot (German Flut)

flood·a·ble, adjective
flood·er, noun
flood·less, adjective
flood·like, adjective
o·ver·flood, verb
EXPAND
pre·flood, adjective
un·der·flood, verb
un·flood·ed, adjective
well-flood·ed, adjective
COLLAPSE


1. Flood, flash flood, deluge, freshet, inundation refer to the overflowing of normally dry areas, often after heavy rains. Flood is usually applied to the overflow of a great body of water, as, for example, a river, although it may refer to any water that overflows an area: a flood along the river; a flood in a basement. A flash flood is one that comes so suddenly that no preparation can be made against it; it is usually destructive, but begins almost at once to subside: a flash flood caused by a downpour. Deluge suggests a great downpouring of water, sometimes with destruction: The rain came down in a deluge. Freshet suggests a small, quick overflow such as that caused by heavy rains: a freshet in an abandoned watercourse. Inundation, a literary word, suggests the covering of a great area of land by water: the inundation of thousands of acres. 8, 9. inundate, deluge.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To floods
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

flood
O.E. flod "a flowing of water, river, sea, flood," from P.Gmc. *flothuz (cf. O.Fris. flod, O.N. floð, M.Du. vloet, Ger. Flut, Goth. fiodus), from PIE verbal stem *plo-/*pleu- "flow, float" (cf. Gk. ploein "to float, swim," plotos "floating, navigable"). The verb is first attested 1660s. Related:
EXPAND
Flooded; flooding. Flood plain (also floodplain) is from 1873.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
flood   (flŭd)  Pronunciation Key 
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 © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature