flood tide

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

• noun The incoming or rising tide, occurring between the time when the tide is lowest and the time when the following tide is highest.
• noun A large or increasing amount.
• noun The peak or climax.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The rising tide. See flood, n., 4, and tide.

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

• noun the period between low tide and the next high tide in which the sea is rising
• noun by extension the highest point of something; a climax

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

• noun the occurrence of incoming water (between a low tide and the following high tide)
• noun the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding