overflood

English

Etymology

over- +‎ flood

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈflʌd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌflʌd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

overflood (third-person singular simple present overfloods, present participle overflooding, simple past and past participle overflooded)

1. (archaic) To flood.
   • 1846, J. Bayard Taylor, Views a-foot‎^[1]:

     On the 28th of March, the river overflooded the high pier along the Main, and rising higher and higher, began to come into the gates and alleys.

   • 1669, Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete‎^[2]:

     Up and to church, my house being miserably overflooded with rayne last night, which makes me almost mad.

2. To flood or fill completely; to overflow.
   • 1919, Louise Seymour Houghton, Life of St. Francis of Assisi‎^[3]:

     Francis is of the race of mystics, for no intermediary comes between God and his soul; but his mysticism is that of Jesus leading his disciples to the Tabor of contemplation; but when, overflooded with joy, they long to build tabernacles that they may remain on the heights and satiate themselves with the raptures of ecstasy, "Fools," he says to them, "ye know not what ye ask," and directing their gaze to the crowds wandering like sheep having no shepherd, he leads them back to the plain, to the midst of those who moan, who suffer, who blaspheme.

   • 1916, Hugo Muensterberg, The Photoplay‎^[4]:

     He may be entirely fascinated by the actions on the stage and yet his mind may be overflooded with other ideas.

   • 1904, Irving Bacheller, Vergilius‎^[5]:

     Then Jerusalem was all begirt and overflooded with song.

   • 1897, Various, Sparkling Gems of Race Knowledge Worth Reading‎^[6]:

     The Negroes have been so industrious for the last decade that they have overflooded the cotton markets of the world, and consequently so reduced the price of this staple that the landlords are not disposed to feed hirelings through the winter, and the colored people, who have been fed from the stores under the mortgage system, getting all their food on time at two prices, and paying for the same in cotton in the fall at half price, find themselves in the end in debt and greatly discouraged.

Noun

overflood (plural overfloods)

1. A flood; an excess or superabundance.