flood gate

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.
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            A covenant never to destroy
            The earth again by flood.             --Milton.
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   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.
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   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.
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