Dictionary

flood

see also: Flood

Etymology

From Middle English flod, from Old English flōd, from Proto-West Germanic *flōdu, from Proto-Germanic *flōduz, from *plew-.

Pronunciation

enPR: flŭd, IPA: /flʌd/

Noun

flood (plural floods)

An overflow (usually disastrous) of water from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
  a covenant never to destroy the earth again by flood
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
  Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.
(figuratively) A large number or quantity of anything appearing more rapidly than can easily be dealt with.
a flood of complaints
The flowing in of the tide, opposed to the ebb.
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:
  There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC ↗, part I, page 193 ↗:
  The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for us was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide.
A floodlight.
Menstrual discharge; menses.
(obsolete) Water as opposed to land.
- 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
  Who beheld from the safe shore their floating carcasses and broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrown, abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, under amazement of their hideous change.

Translations

French: inondation
German: Flut (tidal), Überflutung, Überschwemmung, Hochwasser
Italian: inondazione, alluvione
Portuguese: cheia, enchente, inundação
Russian: наводне́ние
Spanish: inundación; avenida, riada

Translations

German: Flut
Italian: marea, alluvione
Portuguese: dilúvio, enxurrada
Russian: наплы́в
Spanish: diluvio

Verb

flood (floods, present participle flooding; simple past and past participle flooded)

To overflow, as by water from excessive rainfall.
To cover or partly fill as if by a flood.
The floor was flooded with beer.
They flooded the room with sewage.
(figuratively) To provide (someone or something) with a larger number or quantity of something than can easily be dealt with.
The station's switchboard was flooded with listeners making complaints.
(Internet, ambitransitive) To paste numerous lines of text to (a chat system) in order to disrupt the conversation.
To bleed profusely, as after childbirth.