Del"uge (?), n. [F. d'eluge, 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.).
2.
Fig.: Anything which overwhelms, or causes great destruction.
"The deluge of summer."
Lowell.
A fiery deluge fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
Milton.
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.
After me the deluge.
(Apr'es moi le d'eluge.)
Madame de Pompadour.
© Webster 1913.
Del"uge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deluged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Deluging.]
1.
To overflow with water; to inundate; to overwhelm.
The deluged earth would useless grow.
Blackmore.
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.
At length corruption, like a general fl . . .
Shall deluge all.
Pope.
© Webster 1913.