Wiktionary

flush

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English flusshen, fluschen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Middle English flasshen, flasschen, flaschen, see flash; or a Middle English blend of flowen (“to flow”) +‎ guschen (“to gush”). Compare with German flutschen.

Noun

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flush (plural flushes)

  1. A group of birds that have suddenly started up from undergrowth, trees, etc.

Verb

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flush (third-person singular simple present flushes, present participle flushing, simple past and past participle flushed)

  1. (transitive) To cause to take flight from concealment.
    Synonyms: drive, flush out, scare up
    The dogs flushed the deer from the woods.
  2. (intransitive) To take suddenly to flight, especially from cover.
    A covey of quail flushed from the undergrowth.
    • 1613, William Browne, “The Fourth Song”, in Britannia’s Pastorals. The First Booke, London: […] Iohn Haviland, published 1625, →OCLC, page 83:
      But then as little VVrens but nevvly fledge, / […] / His fellovv noting his agilitie, / Thinkes he as vvell may venter as the other, / So fluſhing from one ſpray vnto another, / Gets to the top, and then enbold'ned flies, / Vnto an height paſt ken of humane eyes: […]
    • 1926, Arthur Cleveland Bent, Life Histories of North American Birds: Marsh Birds, page 336:
      The birds seem to lie very close and must be nearly stepped on before they will flush.
    • 1972, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Department of Defense, Department of Defense Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1973, page 460:
      AWACS is survivable due to its ability to flush on warning, to maneuver at jet speeds, to maintain awareness of the developing air situation and to command weapons as appropriate, including weapons for its own defense.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Same as Etymology 3, according to the American Heritage Dictionary.

Adjective

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flush (comparative flusher, superlative flushest)

  1. Smooth, even, aligned; not sticking out.
    Sand down the excess until it is flush with the surface.
  2. Wealthy or well off.
    He just got a bonus so he's flush today.
    • 2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 54:
      In 1952, Fawcett Books was flush with the unprecedented success of Women's Barracks.
  3. (typography) Short for flush left and right: a body of text aligned with both its left and right margins.
    Synonyms: forced, forced justified, force justified, justified
  4. Full of vigour; fresh; glowing; bright.
  5. Affluent; abounding; well furnished or suppled; hence, liberal; prodigal.
    • 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “A Copy of Bull and Frog’s Letter to Lord Strutt”, in Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 8:
      [H]e vvas not fluſh in Ready [i.e., ready money], either to go to Lavv or clear old Debts, neither could he find good Bail: […]
Derived terms
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Translations
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Adverb

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flush (not comparable)

  1. Suddenly and completely.
    I landed flush on the couch.

Etymology 3

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Probably from Etymology 1 according to the American Heritage Dictionary.

Noun

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flush (plural flushes)

  1. A sudden flowing; a rush which fills or overflows, as of water for cleansing purposes.
    • 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC:
      in manner of a wave or flush
  2. Particularly, such a cleansing of a toilet.
  3. (computing) The process of clearing the contents of a buffer or cache.
  4. A suffusion of the face with blood, as from fear, shame, modesty, or intensity of feeling of any kind; a blush; a glow.
    • 1830 June, Alfred Tennyson, “Madeline”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 18:
      When I would kiss thy hand, / The flush of anger'd shame / O'erflows thy calmer glances, / And o'er black brows drops down / A sudden-curved frown: […]
  5. Any tinge of red colour like that produced on the cheeks by a sudden rush of blood.
    the flush on the side of a peach; the flush on the clouds at sunset
  6. A sudden flood or rush of feeling; a thrill of excitement, animation, etc.
    a flush of joy
  7. (skiing) A line of poles or obstacles that a skier must weave between.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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flush (third-person singular simple present flushes, present participle flushing, simple past and past participle flushed)

  2. (transitive) To cleanse by flooding with generous quantities of a fluid.
    Flush the injury with plenty of water.
  3. (transitive) Particularly, to cleanse a toilet by introducing a large amount of water.
  5. (intransitive) To become suffused with reddish color due to embarrassment, excitement, overheating, or other systemic disturbance, to blush.
    The damsel flushed at the scoundrel's suggestion.
    • 1872, “The Argosy. Edited by Mrs. Henry Wood. Volume XIV. July to December, 1872”, in Google‎[1], London, page 60:
      She turned, laughing at the surprise, and flushing with pleasure.
  6. (transitive) To cause to blush.
  7. To cause to be full; to flood; to overflow; to overwhelm with water.
    to flush the meadows
  8. (transitive) To excite, inflame.
    • 1692–1717, Robert South, “Against Long Extemporary Prayers”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
      such things as can only feed his pride and flush his ambition
    • 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Prognosis”, in Open House; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, 1975, →ISBN, page 5:
      Chill depths of the spirit are flushed to a fever,
      The nightmare silence is broken. We are not lost.
  9. (intransitive, of a toilet) To be cleansed by being flooded with generous quantities of water.
    There must be somebody home: I just heard the toilet flushing.
  10. (transitive, computing) To clear (a buffer or cache) of its contents.
  11. (transitive, computing, of data held in a buffer or cache) To write (the data) to primary storage, clearing it from the buffer or cache.
    flush to disk
  12. To flow and spread suddenly; to rush.
    Blood flushes into the face.
    • 1545, John Bale, The Image of Both Churches:
      the flushing noise of many waters
  13. To show red; to shine suddenly; to glow.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, 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:
      In her cheek, distemper flushing glowed.
  14. (masonry) To fill in (joints); to point the level; to make them flush.
  15. (mining, intransitive) To operate a placer mine, where the continuous supply of water is insufficient, by holding back the water, and releasing it periodically in a flood.
  16. (mining) To fill underground spaces, especially in coal mines, with material carried by water, which, after drainage, constitutes a compact mass.
  17. (intransitive, transitive) To dispose or be disposed of by flushing down a toilet
Usage notes
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In sense “turn red with embarrassment”, blush is more common. More finely, in indicating the actual change, blush is usual – “He blushed with embarrassment” – but in indicating state, flushed is also common – “He was flushed with excitement”.

Synonyms
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  • (turn red with embarrassment): blush
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 4

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Various similar terms are found in dialectal English and Scots as flash and flosh (older Scots flosche), and the variation goes back to Middle English flushe, flosche, flashe, flaske. The DSL suggests a relation between flush, English flash (“pool”), and Middle English flosche,[1] but influence from other water-related senses of flush and flash is also conceivable.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /flʌʃ/, (dialectally) /flɔʃ/, /flʊʃ/

Noun

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flush (plural flushes)

  1. A groundwater-fed marsh or peaty mire (which may be acidic or basic, nutrient-rich or poor); (originally especially Scotland and Northern England) a (marshy) pool or seep, as in a field.
    • 1917, Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, page 131:
      For this point onwards the land slopes gently until it becomes quite low lying, that is, tends to become a "flush" or bog.
    • 1918, The Scottish Journal of Agriculture, volumes 1-2, page 263:
      The reason for a "green gair" or flush is the outflow of a spring, and a regular line of these springs may often be traced along a valley slope.
    • 1995, Olwyn Owen, Christopher Lowe, Kebister: The Four-thousand-year-old Story, page 45:
      The pH in water of the hillside soils varied between 3.1 and 6.1 with a mean of 4.2. The pattern of pH variation is complex and does not clearly relate either to cultivation or occupation. The most consistent, though weak, correlation appears to be between higher pH and flushes or bogs, which indicates that the local groundwaters are comparatively basic.
    • 2007, Colin Simms, Gyrfalcon Poems, page 16:
      Suddenly a way would open down into a flush or bog, even some extensive ones where snowfed springs rose, and so did Asiatic Golden Plover with their plangent cries, and calling from high circling; and I was home again.
    • 2012, M. J. Sheehy Skeffington, D. W. Jeffrey, "Growth performance of an inland population of Plantago maritima in response to nitrogen and salinity", in W.G. Beeftink, A.H.L. Huiskes, Jelte Rozema, Ecology of coastal vegetation: Proceedings of a Symposium, page 264:
      The inland distribution of Plantago maritima in Ireland and Britain is [...] generally associated with base-rich soils or with flushes in more acidic upland soils. [...] Many of these inland sites are on uplands of both acidic and basic rock. [...] associated with calcareous, nutrient-poor flushes, [...]
    • 2016, Ralph W. Tiner, Wetland Indicators: A Guide to Wetland Formation:
      Lowland heath Fen, marsh, and swamp / Upland flushes, fens, and swamps […] Flushes are gently sloping, often linear or triangle-shaped wetlands; they may include small watercourses.
    • 2017, John Lorne Campbell, Canna: The Story of a Hebridean Island, page xvii:
      […] Not all the flushes are as basic as might be expected in basalt country, but they do support most of the sedges found in this habitat in the Hebrides. […] in peaty fushes both on Canna and Sanday […]

References

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  1. ^ See “flush” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.,

Etymology 5

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Probably from Middle French flus (“flow”), cognate with flux.

Noun

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flush (plural flushes)

  1. (poker) A hand consisting of all cards with the same suit.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → French: flush
  • → Japanese: フラッシュ (furasshu)
  • → Korean: 플러쉬 (peulleoswi)
  • → Portuguese: flush
Translations
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See also

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Poker hands in English · poker hands (layout · text)
         
high card pair two pair three of a kind straight
         
flush full house four of a kind straight flush royal flush

French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English flush.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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flush m (plural flushs)

  1. (poker) flush
    Synonym: couleur
  2. (anglicism) flush (reddening of the face)
  3. (anglicism, information technology) emptying of the cache

Derived terms

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Derived terms

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English flush.

Noun

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flush m (plural flushes)

  1. (poker) flush (hand consisting of all cards with the same suit)
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