flood Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land
    alluvion; deluge; inundation.
    • plains fertilized by annual inundations
  2. noun an overwhelming number or amount
    torrent; deluge; inundation.
    • a flood of requests
    • a torrent of abuse
  3. noun light that is a source of artificial illumination having a broad beam; used in photography
    floodlight; photoflood; flood lamp.
  4. noun a large flow
    outpouring; overflow.
  5. noun the act of flooding; filling to overflowing
    flowage.
  6. noun the occurrence of incoming water (between a low tide and the following high tide)
    flood tide; rising tide.
    • a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune" -Shakespeare
  7. verb fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid
    inundate; deluge; swamp.
    • the basement was inundated after the storm
    • The images flooded his mind
  8. verb cover with liquid, usually water
    • The swollen river flooded the village
    • The broken vein had flooded blood in her eyes
  9. verb supply with an excess of
    glut; oversupply.
    • flood the market with tennis shoes
    • Glut the country with cheap imports from the Orient
  10. verb become filled to overflowing
    • Our basement flooded during the heavy rains

WordNet

Flood noun
Etymology
OE. flod a flowing, stream, flood, AS. fl&omac;d; akin to D. vloed, OS. fl&omac;d, OHG. fluot, G. flut, Icel. fl&omac;&edh;, Sw. & Dan. flod, Goth. fl&omac;dus; from the root of E. flow. See Flow, v. i.
Definitions
  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. 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. 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. Menstrual disharge; menses. Harvey.
Flood transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Flooded; present participle & verbal noun Flooding
Definitions
  1. To overflow; to inundate; to deluge; as, the swollen river flooded the valley.
  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.

Webster 1913