Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A sudden overflow of a stream resulting from a heavy rain or a thaw.
- noun A stream of fresh water that empties into a body of salt water.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A small stream of fresh water; a brook.
- noun A flood or overflowing of a river, by reason of heavy rains or melted snow; an inundation, especially one of a comparatively moderate extent: same as
fresh , n., 1.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A stream of fresh water.
- noun A flood or overflowing of a stream caused by heavy rains or melted snow; a sudden inundation.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
flood resulting from heavy rain or a spring thaw. - noun poetic A small stream, especially one flowing into the
sea .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the occurrence of a water flow resulting from sudden rain or melting snow
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It was evident that, what in the language of the country is called a freshet was commencing.
The Lost Hunter A Tale of Early Times John Turvill Adams
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There was nothing the matter with the director's plans on this occasion; every detail of the "freshet" had been made ready for with exactness and with prodigious regard to detail.
Ruth Fielding in the Great Northwest Or, The Indian Girl Star of the Movies Alice B. Emerson
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She had picked up a peavey one of the timbermen had left on this bank and was using is as a staff as she watched the "freshet" start.
Ruth Fielding in the Great Northwest Or, The Indian Girl Star of the Movies Alice B. Emerson
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So when some professional friends of his called him up, one day, after a feast of reason and a regular "freshet" of soul which had lasted two or three hours, he read them these verses.
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
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So when some professional friends of his called him up, one day, after a feast of reason and a regular "freshet" of soul which had lasted two or three hours, he read them these verses.
Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
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'freshet' is coming down from the up country to visit us.
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"By the 'freshet' bein 'over I judged he meant the tide bein' out.
The Depot Master Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907
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The "freshet" above, an archaic term today, usually referred to a river overflow from a spring thaw accompanied by heavy rains, although, as in this case, it was sometimes used to refer to flood conditions at any time of year.
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Much as one might want to avoid an annual freshet of legalism, it is very hard to argue that there is not.
Forced Merriment: The True Spirit of Christmas Christopher Hitchens 2011
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Yet the freshet rose higher than that, and swept the bridge away.
yarb commented on the word freshet
The river-bed was here about a mile and a half broad and entirely covered with shingle over which the river ran in many winding channels, looking, when seen from above, like a tangled skein of ribbon, and glistening in the sun. We knew that it was liable to very sudden and heavy freshets; but even had we not known it, we could have seen it by the snags of trees, which must have been carried long distances, and by the mass of vegetable and mineral debris which was banked against their lower side, showing that at times the whole river-bed must be covered with a roaring torrent many feet in depth and of ungovernable fury.
- Samuel Butler, Erewhon
July 18, 2008
bilby commented on the word freshet
If I could see the weedy mussels
Crusting the wrecked and rotting hulls,
Hear once again the hungry crying
Overhead, of the wheeling gulls;
Feel once again the shanty straining
Under the turning of the tide,
Fear once again the rising freshet,
Dread the bell in the fog outside,
I should be happy!
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, 'Exiled'.
September 22, 2009