Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A great flood.
  • noun A heavy downpour.
  • noun Something that overwhelms as if by a great flood.
  • noun In the Bible, the great flood that occurred in the time of Noah.
  • transitive verb To overrun with water; inundate.
  • transitive verb To overwhelm with a large number or amount; swamp.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any overflowing of water; an inundation; a flood; specifically, the great flood or overflowing of the earth (called the universal deluge) which, according to the account in Genesis, occurred in the days of Noah, or any of the similar floods found in the traditions of most ancient peoples, accompanied by a nearly total destruction of life. See flood.
  • noun Anything analogous to an inundation; anything that overwhelms or floods.
  • To pour over in a deluge; overwhelm with a flood; overflow; inundate; drown.
  • To overrun like a flood; pour over in overwhelming numbers: as, the northern nations deluged the Roman empire with their armies.
  • To overwhelm; cause to sink under the weight of a general or spreading calamity.
  • To suffer a deluge; be deluged.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A washing away; an overflowing of the land by water; an inundation; a flood; specifically, The Deluge, the great flood in the days of Noah (Gen. vii.).
  • noun Fig.: Anything which overwhelms, or causes great destruction.
  • transitive verb To overflow with water; to inundate; to overwhelm.
  • transitive verb To overwhelm, as with a deluge; to cover; to overspread; to overpower; to submerge; to destroy

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A great flood or rain.
  • noun An overwhelming amount of something.
  • verb transitive To flood with water.
  • verb transitive To overwhelm.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a heavy rain
  • verb fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid
  • verb charge someone with too many tasks
  • noun an overwhelming number or amount
  • verb fill or cover completely, usually with water
  • noun the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English, flood, from Old French, from Latin dīluvium, from dīluere, to wash away : dis-, apart; see dis– + -luere, to wash; see leu(ə)- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French deluge, alteration of earlier deluvie, from Latin dīluvium, from lavō ("wash")

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Examples

  • _Apres moi le deluge -- apres ca le deluge_ -- it might even come to that this time, they were both so tired -- and he viewed the prospect as a man mortally hurt might view the gradual failing of sun and sky above him, with hopelessness complete as a cloud in that sky, but with heart and brain too beaten now to be surprised with either agony or fear.

    Young People's Pride Stephen Vincent Ben��t 1920

  • KCNA, in its commentary, criticised what it called a deluge of "despicable" reports suggesting serious weaknesses in the communist state.

    Channel NewsAsia Front Page News 2010

  • Powell's campaign said the weekly conference call -- something of a novel campaign approach -- was conceived so that Powell could show that he is accessible (in pointed contrast, they say, to Towns) and in order to manage what they describe as a deluge of press inquiries.

    All Stories | The New York Observer 2010

  • Powell's campaign said the weekly conference call -- something of a novel campaign approach -- was conceived so that Powell could show that he is accessible (in pointed contrast, they say, to Towns) and in order to manage what they describe as a deluge of press inquiries.

    All Stories | The New York Observer 2010

  • KCNA, in its commentary, criticised what it called a deluge of "despicable" reports suggesting serious weaknesses in the communist state.

    Bangkokpost.com : Breaking News 2010

  • AT&T, rather than become a dumb pipe that acts solely as a conduit for the video deluge, is hoping to monetize that video traffic.

    AT&T Creates Private CDN for Corporate Video 2009

  • Watching President Obama address the White House Press Corps apres le deluge is a dispiriting affair.

    Bob Jacobson: The President Is Dispiriting Bob Jacobson 2010

  • At least seven people died and one is missing in the wake of last Monday's red sludge deluge from a 10-hectare storage pool where a byproduct of aluminum production is kept.

    Zoltan Bakonyi ARRESTED Over Danube Pollution In Hungary The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • That data deluge is creating a new kind of search opportunity. (read)

    How Internet Content Distribution & Discovery Are Changing 2009

  • That data deluge is creating a new kind of search opportunity. (read)

    Google May Buy Twitter. Or Not. But Why is Twitter So Hot? 2009

Comments

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  • Cork County Council requested military help ahead of any expected deluge.

    January 13, 2010