deluge
    n 1: an overwhelming number or amount; "a flood of requests"; "a
         torrent of abuse" [syn: flood, inundation, deluge,
         torrent]
    2: a heavy rain [syn: downpour, cloudburst, deluge,
       waterspout, torrent, pelter, soaker]
    3: the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto
       normally dry land; "plains fertilized by annual inundations"
       [syn: flood, inundation, deluge, alluvion]
    v 1: fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid; "the
         basement was inundated after the storm"; "The images
         flooded his mind" [syn: deluge, flood, inundate,
         swamp]
    2: charge someone with too many tasks [syn: overwhelm,
       deluge, flood out]
    3: fill or cover completely, usually with water [syn:
       inundate, deluge, submerge]

Deluge \Del"uge\ (d[e^]l"[-u]j), n. [F. d['e]luge, 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.).
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   2. Fig.: Anything which overwhelms, or causes great
      destruction. "The deluge of summer." --Lowell.
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            A fiery deluge fed
            With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. --Milton.
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            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.
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            After me the deluge.
            (Apr['e]s moi le d['e]luge.)          --Madame de
                                                  Pompadour.
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Deluge \Del"uge\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deluged; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Deluging.]
   1. To overflow with water; to inundate; to overwhelm.
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            The deluged earth would useless grow. --Blackmore.
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   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.
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            At length corruption, like a general flood . . .
            Shall deluge all.                     --Pope.
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Deluge
   the name given to Noah's flood, the history of which is recorded
   in Gen. 7 and 8.
   
     It began in the year 2516 B.C., and continued twelve lunar
   months and ten days, or exactly one solar year.
   
     The cause of this judgment was the corruption and violence
   that filled the earth in the ninth generation from Adam. God in
   righteous indignation determined to purge the earth of the
   ungodly race. Amid a world of crime and guilt there was one
   household that continued faithful and true to God, the household
   of Noah. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations."
   
     At the command of God, Noah made an ark 300 cubits long, 50
   broad, and 30 high. He slowly proceeded with this work during a
   period of one hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:3). At length the
   purpose of God began to be carried into effect. The following
   table exhibits the order of events as they occurred:
   
     In the six hundredth year of his life Noah is commanded by God
   to enter the ark, taking with him his wife, and his three sons
   with their wives (Gen. 7:1-10).
   
     The rain begins on the seventeenth day of the second month
   (Gen. 7:11-17).
   
     The rain ceases, the waters prevail, fifteen cubits upward
   (Gen. 7:18-24).
   
     The ark grounds on one of the mountains of Ararat on the
   seventeenth day of the seventh month, or one hundred and fifty
   days after the Deluge began (Gen. 8:1-4).
   
     Tops of the mountains visible on the first day of the tenth
   month (Gen. 8:5).
   
     Raven and dove sent out forty days after this (Gen. 8:6-9).
   
     Dove again sent out seven days afterwards; and in the evening
   she returns with an olive leaf in her mouth (Gen. 8:10, 11).
   
     Dove sent out the third time after an interval of other seven
   days, and returns no more (Gen. 8:12).
   
     The ground becomes dry on the first day of the first month of
   the new year (Gen. 8:13).
   
     Noah leaves the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the second
   month (Gen. 8:14-19).
   
     The historical truth of the narrative of the Flood is
   established by the references made to it by our Lord (Matt.
   24:37; comp. Luke 17:26). Peter speaks of it also (1 Pet. 3:20;
   2 Pet. 2:5). In Isa. 54:9 the Flood is referred to as "the
   waters of Noah." The Biblical narrative clearly shows that so
   far as the human race was concerned the Deluge was universal;
   that it swept away all men living except Noah and his family,
   who were preserved in the ark; and that the present human race
   is descended from those who were thus preserved.
   
     Traditions of the Deluge are found among all the great
   divisions of the human family; and these traditions, taken as a
   whole, wonderfully agree with the Biblical narrative, and agree
   with it in such a way as to lead to the conclusion that the
   Biblical is the authentic narrative, of which all these
   traditions are more or less corrupted versions. The most
   remarkable of these traditions is that recorded on tablets
   prepared by order of Assur-bani-pal, the king of Assyria. These
   were, however, copies of older records which belonged to
   somewhere about B.C. 2000, and which formed part of the priestly
   library at Erech (q.v.), "the ineradicable remembrance of a real
   and terrible event." (See NOAH; CHALDEA.)
   

DELUGE, n.  A notable first experiment in baptism which washed away
the sins (and sinners) of the world.