flood

1. N-VAR If there is a flood, a large amount of water covers an area which is usually dry, for example, when a river flows over its banks or a pipe bursts. 洪水

More than 70 people were killed in the floods, caused when a dam burst. 大垻決堤引發的洪水災吞噬了七十多人的生命。

This is the type of flood dreaded by cavers. 這正是探察洞穴者懼怕的那種洪水。

2. V-T/V-I If something such as a river or a burst pipe floods an area that is usually dry or if the area floods, it becomes covered with water. 爲水所淹; 淹沒

The kitchen flooded. 廚房被水淹了。

3. V-I If a river floods, it overflows, especially after very heavy rain. 泛濫

...the relentless rain that caused twenty rivers to flood. …導致20條河流泛濫的那場持續不斷的雨。

4. V-I If you say that people or things flood into a place, you are emphasizing that they arrive there in large numbers. 湧入[強調]

Large numbers of immigrants flooded into the area. 大批移民湧入了這個地區。

Inquiries flooded in from all over the world. 問詢從世界各地如潮水般湧來。

5. V-T If you flood a place with a particular type of thing, or if a particular type of thing floods a place, the place becomes full of so many of them that it cannot hold or deal with any more. 使充滿; 充斥

Manufacturers are destroying American jobs by flooding the market with cheap imports. 制造商們在以廉價進口貨充斥市場，破壞了美國人的就業機會。

6. N-COUNT If you say that a flood of people or things arrive somewhere, you are emphasizing that a very large number of them arrive there. 一大批[強調]

The administration is trying to stem the flood of refugees out of Haiti and into Florida. 政府正設法阻止大批逃離海地的難民湧入彿羅裡達。