flush
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈflʌʃ/
rhymes: -ʌʃ
Forms: form: flushes
form: flushing
form: flushed
form: flushed
Etymology: Probably from Etymology 1, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
Senses: examples: text: Flush the injury with plenty of water.
glosses: To cleanse by flooding with generous quantities of a fluid.
glosses: Particularly, to cleanse a toilet by introducing a large amount of water.
examples: text: The damsel flushed at the scoundrel's suggestion.
text: She turned, laughing at the surprise, and flushing with pleasure.
ref: 1872, “The Argosy. Edited by Mrs. Henry Wood. Volume XIV. July to December, 1872”, in Google, London, page 60:
glosses: To become suffused with reddish color due to embarrassment, excitement, overheating, or other systemic disturbance, to blush.
examples: text: Nor flush with shame the passing virgin's cheek.
ref: [1716], [John] Gay, “(please specify the page number(s))”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC:
text: Sudden a thought came like a full-blown rose, / Flushing his brow, [...]
ref: 1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 91:
text: "Who plants a seed begets a bud, -- Extract of that same root; -- Why marvel at the hectic blood -- That flushes this wild fruit?"
ref: 1925, Countee Cullen, Fruit of the Flower:
glosses: To cause to blush.
examples: text: to flush the meadows
glosses: To cause to be full; to flood; to overflow; to overwhelm with water.
examples: text: such things as can only feed his pride and flush his ambition
ref: 1692–1717, Robert South, “Against Long Extemporary Prayers”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
text: Chill depths of the spirit are flushed to a fever,
The nightmare silence is broken. We are not lost.
ref: 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Prognosis”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 5:
glosses: To excite, inflame.
examples: text: There must be somebody home: I just heard the toilet flushing.
glosses: To be cleansed by being flooded with generous quantities of water.
raw_tags: of a toilet
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To clear (a buffer or cache) of its contents.
examples: text: flush to disk
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To write (the data) to primary storage, clearing it from the buffer or cache.
raw_tags: of data held in a buffer or cache
examples: text: Blood flushes into the face.
text: the flushing noise of many waters
ref: 1545, John Bale, The Image of Both Churches:
glosses: To flow and spread suddenly; to rush.
examples: text: In her cheek, distemper flushing glowed.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: To show red; to shine suddenly; to glow.
topics: business
construction
manufacturing
masonry
glosses: To fill in (joints); to point the level; to make them flush.
topics: business
mining
glosses: To operate a placer mine, where the continuous supply of water is insufficient, by holding back the water, and releasing it periodically in a flood.
topics: business
mining
glosses: To fill underground spaces, especially in coal mines, with material carried by water, which, after drainage, constitutes a compact mass.
glosses: To dispose or be disposed of by flushing down a toilet.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To move, shift or align to one side.
Synonyms: sense: turn red with embarrassment
word: blush
Derived terms: aflush
flushable
flusher
flushing toilet
nonflushing
outflush
reflush
unflushing