Del"uge (?), n. [F. d'eluge, L. diluvium, fr. diluere wash away; di- = dis- + luere, equiv. to lavare to wash. See Lave, and cf. Diluvium.]

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 (Gen. vii.).

2.

Fig.: Anything which overwhelms, or causes great destruction.

"The deluge of summer."

Lowell.

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. (Apr'es moi le d'eluge.) Madame de Pompadour.

 

© Webster 1913.


Del"uge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deluged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Deluging.]

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.

 

© Webster 1913.

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