| deluge | 1. 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 . 2. Anything which overwhelms, or causes great destruction. "The deluge of summer." "A fiery deluge fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed." (Milton) "As I grub up some quaint old fragment of a [London] street, or a house, or a shop, or tomb or burial ground, which has still survived in the deluge." (F. Harrison) "After me the deluge. (Apres moi le deluge)" (Madame de Pompadour) Origin: F. Deluge, L. Diluvium, fr. Diluere wash away; di- = dis- + luere, equiv. To lavare to wash. See Lave, and cf. Diluvium. 1. To overflow with water; to inundate; to overwhelm. "The deluged earth would useless grow." (Blackmore) 2. To overwhelm, as with a deluge; to cover; to overspread; to overpower; to submerge; to destroy; as, the northern nations deluged the Roman empire with their armies; the land is deluged with woe. "At length corruption, like a general fl . . . Shall deluge all." (Pope) Origin: Deluged; Deluging. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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