Wiktionary

deluge

See also: Deluge and déluge

English

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WOTD – 19 May 2008

Etymology

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From Middle English deluge, from Old French deluge, alteration of earlier deluvie, from Latin dīluvium, from dīluō (“wash away”). Doublet of diluvium.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɛl.juːdʒ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɛl.jud͡ʒ/, /ˈdɛ.lud͡ʒ/, /ˈdi.lud͡ʒ/, /dəˈlud͡ʒ/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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deluge (plural deluges)

  1. A great flood or rain.
    The deluge continued for hours, drenching the land and slowing traffic to a halt.
  2. An overwhelming amount of something; anything that overwhelms or causes great destruction.
    The rock concert was a deluge of sound.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      A fiery deluge fed / With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
    • 1848, James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal:
      The little bird sits at his door in the sun, / Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, / And lets his illumined being o'errun / With the deluge of summer it receives.
  3. (firefighting) A system for flooding or drenching a space, container, or area with water in an emergency to prevent or extinguish a fire.
    deluge system, deluge gun, deluge set
    • 2002, NAVEDTRA, Gunner's Mate 14324A
      In the event of a restrained firing or canister overtemperature condition, the deluge system sprays cooling water within the canister until the overtemperature condition no longer exists.
    • 2009 January 13, National Transportation Safety Board, “Earlier Western Accidents”, in Special Investigation Report: Mobile Acetylene Trailer Accidents: Fire During Unloading in Dallas, Texas, July 25, 2007; Fire During Unloading in The Woodlands, Texas, August 7, 2007; and Overturn and Fire in East New Orleans, Louisiana, October 20, 2007‎[1], archived from the original on 20 January 2022, page 18:
      On June 8, 2005, a decomposition reaction occurred in the manifold system on a mobile acetylene trailer at Western's Bellville plant that caused the fusible plugs of five cylinders to melt, releasing the products of decomposition. The materials released did not ignite before the deluge system was manually activated, controlling the incident. The incident started when a mobile acetylene trailer, with the cylinder valves open and the manifold fully pressurized, was moved into another bay and the block valve was opened, which initiated an acetylene decomposition reaction.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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deluge (third-person singular simple present deluges, present participle deluging, simple past and past participle deluged)

  1. (transitive) To flood with water.
    Some areas were deluged with a month's worth of rain in 24 hours.
    • 2020 July 29, Andrew Roden, “ORR demands more action on weather resistance”, in Rail, page 21, photo caption:
      South Yorkshire 2019: The track at Conisbrough is deluged by floodwater. Lines were shut and services were disrupted across Yorkshire and the East Midlands.
  2. (transitive) To overwhelm.
    • 1988 December 25, Michael Bronski, “Passion Statement”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 24, page 11:
      In Women on the Verge all of the characters are deluged by and constantly dealing with the effects and messages of pop culture.
    After the announcement, they were deluged with requests for more information.

Translations

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References

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See also

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old French deluge, from Latin dīluvium.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈdɛːliu̯dʒ(ə)/

Noun

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deluge (Late Middle English)

  1. A deluge; a massive flooding or raining.
  2. (rare, figurative) Any cataclysmic or catastrophic event.

Descendants

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  • English: deluge

References

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Old French

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Etymology

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Very early borrowing of Latin dīluvium, explaining the palatalization of -V-, and the unexpected vowel outcomes.

Noun

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deluge oblique singular, m (oblique plural deluges, nominative singular deluges, nominative plural deluge)

  1. large flood

Descendants

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