From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Flood \Flood\ (fl[u^]d), 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.
[1913 Webster]
A covenant never to destroy
The earth again by flood. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
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.
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There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
--Shak.
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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.
[1913 Webster]
4. Menstrual disharge; menses. --Harvey.
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{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.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
flood tide
n 1: the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or
developing or unfolding; "the climax of the artist's
career"; "in the flood tide of his success" [syn: {climax},
{flood tide}]
2: the occurrence of incoming water (between a low tide and the
following high tide); "a tide in the affairs of men which,
taken at the flood, leads on to fortune" -Shakespeare [syn:
{flood tide}, {flood}, {rising tide}] [ant: {ebbtide}]
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