FLOOD

Definitions

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. 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.