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Entry 6 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Flood

/(flŭd)/ · IPA /flʌd/
01 n. A great flow of water; a body of moving water; the flowing stream, as of a river; especially, a body of water, rising, swelling, and overfl…
  1. 1.
    A great flow of water; a body of moving water; the flowing stream, as of a river; especially, a body of water, rising, swelling, and overflowing land not usually thus covered; a deluge; a freshet; an inundation.
    “A covenant never to destroy The earth again by flood.” — Milton.
  2. 2.
    The flowing in of the tide; the semidiurnal swell or rise of water in the ocean; -- opposed to ebb; as, young flood; high flood.
    “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” — Shak.
  3. 3.
    A great flow or stream of any fluid substance; as, a flood of light; a flood of lava; hence, a great quantity widely diffused; an overflowing; a superabundance; as, a flood of bank notes; a flood of paper currency.
  4. 4.
    Menstrual disharge; menses.
Phrases & compounds
Flood anchor — , the anchor by which a ship is held while the tide is rising.
Flood fence — a fence so secured that it will not be swept away by a flood.
Flood gate — a gate for shutting out, admitting, or releasing, a body of water; a tide gate.
Flood mark — the mark or line to which the tide, or a flood, rises; high-water mark.
Flood tide — the rising tide; -- opposed to ebb tide.
The Flood — the deluge in the days of Noah.
02 v. t. To overflow; to inundate; to deluge; as, the swollen river flooded the valley.
imp. & p. p. Flooded; p. pr. & vb. n. Flooding
  1. 1.
    To overflow; to inundate; to deluge; as, the swollen river flooded the valley.
  2. 2.
    To cause or permit to be inundated; to fill or cover with water or other fluid; as, to flood arable land for irrigation; to fill to excess or to its full capacity; as, to flood a country with a depreciated currency.