flood | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

67 entries found.

1660s, "to overflow" (transitive), from flood (n.). Intransitive sense "to rise in a flood" is from 1755. Related: Flooded; flooding.

flood (n.)

Old English flōd "a flowing of water, tide, an overflowing of land by water, a deluge, Noah's Flood; mass of water, river, sea, wave," from Proto-Germanic *floduz "flowing water, deluge" (source also of Old Frisian flod, Old Norse floð, Middle Dutch vloet, Dutch vloed, German Flut, Gothic flodus), from suffixed form of PIE verbal root *pleu- "to flow" (also the source of flow). In early modern English often floud. Figurative use, "a great quantity, a sudden abundance," by mid-14c.

flood-tide (n.)

1719, from flood (n.) + tide (n.).

flood-plain (n.)

1844, from flood (n.) + plain (n.).

flood-gate (n.)

early 13c. in the figurative sense "opportunity for a great venting" (especially with reference to tears or rain); literal sense is mid-15c. (gate designed to let water in or keep it out as desired, especially the lower gate of a lock); from flood (n.) + gate (n.).

floodlight (n.)

also flood-light, 1924, from flood (n.) + light (n.). Related: Floodlit.

diluvial (adj.)

"pertaining to a flood" (especially The Flood of Genesis), 1650s, from Late Latin diluvialis, from Latin diluvium "flood, inundation," from diluere "wash away," from dis- "away" (see dis-) + -luere, combining form of lavere "to wash" (from PIE root *leue- "to wash"). Related: Diluvian.

deluge (v.)

1590s, "to pour over, overwhelm in a flood, inundate;" see deluge (n.). Figurative sense of "overrun like a flood, pour over in overwhelming numbers" is from 1650s. Related: Deluged; deluging.

cataclysm (n.)

"a deluge, a flood," originally especially "Noah's flood," 1630s, from French cataclysme (16c.), from Latin cataclysmos or directly from Greek kataklysmos "deluge, flood, inundation," from kataklyzein "to deluge," from kata "down" (see cata-) + klyzein "to wash," from PIE *kleue- "to wash, clean" (see cloaca).

antediluvian (adj.)

"before Noah's flood," 1640s, from Latin ante "before" (from PIE root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before") + diluvium "a flood" (see deluge (n.)). Hence (humorously or disparagingly) "very antiquated" (1726). Coined by English physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682). As a noun meaning "person who lived before the Flood," from 1680s. Related: antediluvial (1823).

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