avalanche

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Swimming, kicking, fighting and struggling against the avalanche is a good way to position yourself near the top.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A fall or slide of a large mass, as of snow or rock, down a mountainside.
  2. noun A massive or overwhelming amount; a flood: received an avalanche of mail.
  3. intransitive verb To fall or slide in a massive or overwhelming amount.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (42)

  • Doug Abromeit, director of the Forest Service National Avalanche Center in Ketchum, Idaho, called the avalanche fatalities and close calls "unprecedented" in developed ski areas. —  Summit Daily News - Top Stories
  • The crowd rushes out like an avalanche, the candidate surfing along the top, a look of bliss on his face. —  Futurismic
  • About an hour before that avalanche, another rumbled down Mara Mountain near Enderby in the province's interior, leaving one of three snowmobilers missing. —  KOMO - News - Top Stories
  • A search that day was called off as darkness set in and rescuers grew concerned about the possibility of another avalanche, the RCMP said. —  CBC | Top Stories News
  • The MAX15032 is suitable for applications such as avalanche-photodiode, PIN-diode and varactor-diode biasing. —  Electronicstalk - electronics industry news
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French; akin to Provençal lavanca, ravine, perhaps ultimately from Latin lābī, to slip.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French avalanche (also avalange), dial. form (Swiss evalanche) of *avalance (Middle Latin avalantia), literally descent, from avaler, let fall down: see avale and -ance.
 

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/ˈævəlæntʃ/
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