deluge

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A great flood.
2. n. A heavy downpour.
3. n. Something that overwhelms as if by a great flood: a deluge of fan mail.
4. n. In the Bible, the great flood that occurred in the time of Noah.
5. v. To overrun with water; inundate.
6. v. To overwhelm with a large number or amount; swamp: The press secretary was deluged with requests for information.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Any overflowing of water; an inundation; a flood; specifically, the great flood or overflowing of the earth (called the universal deluge) which, according to the account in Genesis, occurred in the days of Noah, or any of the similar floods found in the traditions of most ancient peoples, accompanied by a nearly total destruction of life. See flood.
2. n. Anything analogous to an inundation; anything that overwhelms or floods.
3. To pour over in a deluge; overwhelm with a flood; overflow; inundate; drown.
4. To overrun like a flood; pour over in overwhelming numbers: as, the northern nations deluged the Roman empire with their armies.
5. To overwhelm; cause to sink under the weight of a general or spreading calamity.
6. To suffer a deluge; be deluged.

Wiktionary

1. n. A great flood or rain.
2. n. An overwhelming amount of something.
3. v. transitive To flood with water.
4. v. transitive To overwhelm.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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. n. Fig.: Anything which overwhelms, or causes great destruction.
3. v. To overflow with water; to inundate; to overwhelm.
4. v. To overwhelm, as with a deluge; to cover; to overspread; to overpower; to submerge; to destroy

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a heavy rain
2. v. fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid
3. v. charge someone with too many tasks
4. n. an overwhelming number or amount
5. v. fill or cover completely, usually with water
6. n. the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land