Deluge /(dĕl"ū̇j)/

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.

   A fiery deluge fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.

   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.

   After me the deluge. (Aprés moi le déluge.)

imp. & p. p. Deluged; p. pr. & vb. n. Deluging

1. To overflow with water; to inundate; to overwhelm.

   The deluged earth would useless grow.

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 flood . . . Shall deluge all.