flood

• floud (obsolete)

From Middle English flod, from Old English flōd, from Proto-Germanic *flōduz, from Proto-Indo-European *plōtus, derived from *plew- (“to flow”). Near cognates include Scots flude, fluid, Saterland Frisian Floud, Dutch vloed, German Flut, Danish flod, Icelandic flóð, and Gothic 𐍆𐌻𐍉𐌳𐌿𐍃 (flōdus).

• enPR: flŭd, IPA^(key): /flʌd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌd

flood (plural floods)

1. A (usually disastrous) overflow of water from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.
   • To make exact; to correct for inaccuracy.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     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 639762314, page 0147:

     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.

   • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:

     Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

2. (figuratively) A large number or quantity of anything appearing more rapidly than can easily be dealt with.

   a flood of complaints

   • 2016 December 6, Francis Fukuyama, “The Dangers of Disruption”, in The New York Times‎:

     Deregulation of financial markets laid the groundwork for the subprime crisis in the United States, while a badly designed euro contributed to the debt crisis in Greece, and the Schengen system of open borders made it difficult to control the flood of refugees in Europe.

3. The flowing in of the tide, opposed to the ebb.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

4. A floodlight.
5. Menstrual discharge; menses.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Harvey to this entry?)

6. (obsolete) Water as opposed to land.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost

     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.

• deluge
• diversion
• inundation
• torrent

flood (third-person singular simple present floods, present participle flooding, simple past and past participle flooded)

1. To overflow, as by water from excessive rainfall.
2. To cover or partly fill as if by a flood.

   The floor was flooded with beer.

   They flooded the room with sewage.

3. (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.

   • 2011 October 1, David Ornstein, “Blackburn 0 - 4 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Blackburn offered nothing going forward in the opening period and that continued after the break, encouraging City to flood forward.

4. (Internet, transitive, intransitive) To paste numerous lines of text to (a chat system) in order to disrupt the conversation.
   • 1998, "Dr. Cat", Furry web site plug (on newsgroup alt.fan.furry)

     There's also a spam filter in the code now, so if someone attempts to flood people's screens with macros or a bot, everything after the first few lines is thrown away.

5. To bleed profusely, as after childbirth.

• (overflow): drain

• (overflow): overfill
• (cover): inundate
• (provide with large number): inundate, swamp, deluge

• of old

flood

1. Alternative form of flod

Borrowed from English flood.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈflɐd͡ʒ/

flood m (plural floods)

1. (Internet slang) a flood of superfluous text messages

• floodar