Flood \Flood\, n. [OE. flod a flowing, stream, flood, AS.
fl[=o]d; akin to D. vloed, OS. fl[=o]d, OHG. fluot, G. flut,
Icel. fl[=o][eth], Sw. & Dan. flod, Goth. fl[=o]dus; from the
root of E. flow. [root]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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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