Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Deluge"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Deluge
the name given to Noah's flood, the history of which is recorded
in Gen. 7 and 8.
It began in the year 2516 B.C., and continued twelve lunar
months and ten days, or exactly one solar year.
The cause of this judgment was the corruption and violence
that filled the earth in the ninth generation from Adam. God in
righteous indignation determined to purge the earth of the
ungodly race. Amid a world of crime and guilt there was one
household that continued faithful and true to God, the household
of Noah. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations."
At the command of God, Noah made an ark 300 cubits long, 50
broad, and 30 high. He slowly proceeded with this work during a
period of one hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:3). At length the
purpose of God began to be carried into effect. The following
table exhibits the order of events as they occurred:
In the six hundredth year of his life Noah is commanded by God
to enter the ark, taking with him his wife, and his three sons
with their wives (Gen. 7:1-10).
The rain begins on the seventeenth day of the second month
(Gen. 7:11-17).
The rain ceases, the waters prevail, fifteen cubits upward
(Gen. 7:18-24).
The ark grounds on one of the mountains of Ararat on the
seventeenth day of the seventh month, or one hundred and fifty
days after the Deluge began (Gen. 8:1-4).
Tops of the mountains visible on the first day of the tenth
month (Gen. 8:5).
Raven and dove sent out forty days after this (Gen. 8:6-9).
Dove again sent out seven days afterwards; and in the evening
she returns with an olive leaf in her mouth (Gen. 8:10, 11).
Dove sent out the third time after an interval of other seven
days, and returns no more (Gen. 8:12).
The ground becomes dry on the first day of the first month of
the new year (Gen. 8:13).
Noah leaves the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the second
month (Gen. 8:14-19).
The historical truth of the narrative of the Flood is
established by the references made to it by our Lord (Matt.
24:37; comp. Luke 17:26). Peter speaks of it also (1 Pet. 3:20;
2 Pet. 2:5). In Isa. 54:9 the Flood is referred to as "the
waters of Noah." The Biblical narrative clearly shows that so
far as the human race was concerned the Deluge was universal;
that it swept away all men living except Noah and his family,
who were preserved in the ark; and that the present human race
is descended from those who were thus preserved.
Traditions of the Deluge are found among all the great
divisions of the human family; and these traditions, taken as a
whole, wonderfully agree with the Biblical narrative, and agree
with it in such a way as to lead to the conclusion that the
Biblical is the authentic narrative, of which all these
traditions are more or less corrupted versions. The most
remarkable of these traditions is that recorded on tablets
prepared by order of Assur-bani-pal, the king of Assyria. These
were, however, copies of older records which belonged to
somewhere about B.C. 2000, and which formed part of the priestly
library at Erech (q.v.), "the ineradicable remembrance of a real
and terrible event." (See {NOAH}; {CHALDEA}.)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Deluge \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 flood . . .
Shall deluge all. --Pope.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Deluge \Del"uge\, n. [F. d['e]luge, 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['e]s moi le d['e]luge.)
--Madame de
Pompadour.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
deluge
n 1: an overwhelming number or amount; "a flood of requests"; "a
torrent of abuse" [syn: {flood}, {torrent}]
2: a heavy rain [syn: {downpour}, {cloudburst}, {waterspout}, {torrent},
{pelter}, {soaker}]
3: the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto
normally dry land [syn: {flood}, {inundation}, {alluvion}]
v 1: fill beyond capacity; "The water flooded the fields" [syn: {flood},
{inundate}]
2: fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid; "the
basement was inundated after the storm"; "The images
flooded his mind" [syn: {flood}, {inundate}, {swamp}]
3: charge someone with too many tasks [syn: {overwhelm}, {flood
out}]
4: fill or cover completely, usually with water [syn: {inundate},
{submerge}]
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