Flood

Flood (flŭd), n. [OE. flod a flowing, stream, flood, AS. flōd; akin to D. vloed, OS. flōd, OHG. fluot, G. flut, Icel. flōð, Sw. & Dan. flod, Goth. flōdus; from the root of E. flow. √80. See Flow, v. i.] 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 anchor (Naut.) , 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.

Flood, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flooded; p. pr. & vb. n. Flooding.] 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.