What is "flush"

Flush \Flush\, v. i. (Mining)

1. 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.

2. To fill underground spaces, especially in coal mines, with material carried by water, which, after drainage, constitutes a compact mass.

Flush \Flush\, v. t.

1. To cause to be full; to flood; to overflow; to overwhelm with water; as, to flush the meadows; to flood for the purpose of cleaning; as, to flush a sewer.

2. To cause the blood to rush into (the face); to put to the blush, or to cause to glow with excitement.

   Nor flush with shame the passing virgin's cheek.
   --Gay.

   Sudden a thought came like a full-blown rose, Flushing his brow.
   --Keats.

3. To make suddenly or temporarily red or rosy, as if suffused with blood.

   How faintly flushed. how phantom fair, Was Monte Rosa, hanging there!
   --Tennyson.

4. To excite; to animate; to stir.

   Such things as can only feed his pride and flush his ambition.
   --South.

5. To cause to start, as a hunter a bird.
   --Nares.

6. To cause to flow; to draw water from, or pour it over or through (a pond, meadow, sewer, etc.); to cleanse by means of a rush of water.

   To flush a joints (Masonry), to fill them in; to point the level; to make them flush.

Flush \Flush\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flushed; p. pr. & vb. n. Flushing.] [Cf. OE. fluschen to fly up, penetrate, F. fluz a flowing, E. flux, dial. Sw. flossa to blaze, and E. flash; perh. influenced by blush. [root]84.]

1. To flow and spread suddenly; to rush; as, blood flushes into the face.

   The flushing noise of many waters.
   --Boyle.

   It flushes violently out of the cock.
   --Mortimer.

2. To become suddenly suffused, as the cheeks; to turn red; to blush.

3. To snow red; to shine suddenly; to glow.

   In her cheek, distemper flushing glowed.
   --Milton.

4. To start up suddenly; to take wing as a bird.

   Flushing from one spray unto another.
   --W. Browne.

Flush \Flush\, n.

1. A sudden flowing; a rush which fills or overflows, as of water for cleansing purposes.

   In manner of a wave or flush.
   --Ray.

2. A suffusion of the face with blood, as from fear, shame, modesty, or intensity of feeling of any kind; a blush; a glow.

   The flush of angered shame.
   --Tennyson.

3. Any tinge of red color like that produced on the cheeks by a sudden rush of blood; as, the flush on the side of a peach; the flush on the clouds at sunset.

4. A sudden flood or rush of feeling; a thrill of excitement. animation, etc.; as, a flush of joy.

5. A flock of birds suddenly started up or flushed.

6. [From F. or Sp. flux. Cf. Flux.] A hand of cards, all of the same suit; -- especially significant in poker, where five cards of the same suit constitute a flush, which beats a straight but is beaten by a full house or four of a kind.

Flush \Flush\, adv. So as to be level or even.

Flush \Flush\, a.

1. Full of vigor; fresh; glowing; bright.

   With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May.
   --Shak.

2. Affluent; abounding; well furnished or suppled; hence, liberal; prodigal.

   Lord Strut was not very flush in ready.
   --Arbuthnot.

3. (Arch. & Mech.) Unbroken or even in surface; on a level with the adjacent surface; forming a continuous surface; as, a flush panel; a flush joint.

4. (Card Playing) Consisting of cards of one suit. Flush bolt.

   1. A screw bolt whose head is countersunk, so as to be flush with a surface.

   2. A sliding bolt let into the face or edge of a door, so as to be flush therewith.

      Flush deck. (Naut.) See under Deck, n., 1.

      Flush tank, a water tank which can be emptied rapidly for flushing drainpipes, etc.

1550s, "perfect, faultless;" c.1600, "abundantly full," also "full of life or spirit," also "plentifully supplied" (with money, etc.), perhaps from flush (v.1) through the notion of a river running full, hence level with its banks. Meaning "even, level" is from 1620s, originally of ship's decks. In general use by 1791; in typography, 1900; in pugilism, 1812.

mid-13c., flusshen "move rapidly or violently; rush, dart, spring" (intransitive); late 15c., flush up, transitive, "cause to fly; start or flush (birds)," perhaps imitative of the sound of beating wings.\n

\nThe sense of "spurt, rush out suddenly, flow with force" (1540s, usually of water) probably is the same word, with the connecting notion being "sudden movement," but its senses seem more to fit the older ones of flash (v.), now all transferred to this word except in flash flood, via its variant flushe. OED considers this probably not connected to Old French flux. Transitive sense "cause to flow" is from 1590s.\n

\nMeaning "cleanse (a drain, etc.) with a rush of water" is from 1789. Of the face, "become suffused with warm color," from 1680s (flushed). Sense of "inflame with pride or passion" as a result of success, victory, etc., is from 1630s; perhaps influenced in sense by flesh (v). Related: Flushed; flushing.

The section of entries for the various flushes in Century Dictionary opens with a caveat:\n\nThe several words spelled flush, being mostly dialectal, colloquial, or technical, and scantily recorded in early literature, have become partly confused with one another, and cannot now be entirely disentangled. Words originally different have acquired some meanings very nearly identical, while on the other hand there are some meanings not obviously related which are, nevertheless, to be referred to one original.\n\nWeekley calls it "A very puzzling word." Sense of "a rush of water" in a stream (1520s), is probably from flush (v.1). From this likely come the extended senses "rush of emotion or passion" (1610s); "a sudden shooting up" (1773); "act of cleansing (a drain) by flushing" (1883); "glow of light or color" (especially sudden redness in the face), 1620s. Independently from the verb, probably, is the noun sense of "a flight of birds suddenly started up" (1590s).\n

\nThe meaning "hand of cards all of one suit" (1520s) is of uncertain origin, perhaps formed on the model of Middle French flus (15c.), from Old French flux, flus "a flowing, rolling" (see flux), which, in common with its Italian cognate flusso, is said to have once had a sense of "a run" of cards. The form in English probably was influenced by flush (v.1).

"make even or level," 1842, from flush (adj.).

"directly, straight," 1700, from flush (adj.).

Etymology 1 n. A group of birds that have suddenly started up from undergrowth, trees etc. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To cause to take flight from concealment. 2 (context intransitive English) To take suddenly to flight, especially from cover. Etymology 2

1. 1 smooth, even, aligned; not sticking out. 2 wealthy or well off. 3 (context typography English) Short for ''flush left and right''; a body of text aligned with both its left and right margins. 4 Full of vigour; fresh; glowing; bright. 5 Affluent; abounding; well furnished or suppled; hence, liberal; prodigal. Etymology 3

   n. 1 A sudden flowing; a rush which fills or overflows, as of water for cleansing purposes. 2 Particularly, such a cleansing of a toilet. 3 A suffusion of the face with blood, as from fear, shame, modesty, or intensity of feeling of any kind; a blush; a glow. 4 Any tinge of red colour like that produced on the cheeks by a sudden rush of blood. 5 A sudden flood or rush of feeling; a thrill of excitement, animation, etc. v

2. 1 (context transitive English) To cleanse by flooding with generous quantities of a fluid. 2 (context transitive English) Particularly, to cleanse a toilet by introducing a large amount of water. 3 (context intransitive English) To become suffused with reddish color due to embarrassment, excitement, overheating, or other systemic disturbance, to blush. 4 (context transitive English) To cause to blush. 5 To cause to be full; to flood; to overflow; to overwhelm with water. 6 (context transitive English) To excite, inflame. 7 (context intransitive of a toilet English) To be cleansed by being flooded with generous quantities of water. 8 (context transitive computing English) To clear (a buffer) of its contents. 9 To flow and spread suddenly; to rush. 10 To show red; to shine suddenly; to glow. 11 (context masonry English) To fill in (joints); to point the level; to make them flush. 12 (cx mining intransitive English) 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. 13 (cx mining English) To fill underground spaces, especially in coal mines, with material carried by water, which, after drainage, constitutes a compact mass. Etymology 4

   n. (context poker English) A hand consisting of all cards with the same suit.

1. adj. of a surface exactly even with an adjoining one, forming the same plane; "a door flush with the wall"; "the bottom of the window is flush with the floor" [syn: flush(p)]

2. having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value; "an affluent banker"; "a speculator flush with cash"; "not merely rich but loaded"; "moneyed aristocrats"; "wealthy corporations" [syn: affluent, loaded, moneyed, wealthy]

1. n. the period of greatest prosperity or productivity [syn: flower, prime, peak, heyday, bloom, blossom, efflorescence]

2. a rosy color (especially in the cheeks) taken as a sign of good health [syn: bloom, blush, rosiness]

3. sudden brief sensation of heat (associated with menopause and some mental disorders) [syn: hot flash]

4. a poker hand with all 5 cards in the same suit

5. the swift release of a store of affective force; "they got a great bang out of it"; "what a boot!"; "he got a quick rush from injecting heroin"; "he does it for kicks" [syn: bang, boot, charge, rush, thrill, kick]

6. a sudden rapid flow (as of water); "he heard the flush of a toilet"; "there was a little gush of blood"; "she attacked him with an outpouring of words" [syn: gush, outpouring]

7. sudden reddening of the face (as from embarrassment or guilt or shame or modesty) [syn: blush]

8. adv. squarely or solidly; "hit him flush in the face"

9. in the same plane; "set it flush with the top of the table"

1. v. turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame; "The girl blushed when a young man whistled as she walked by" [syn: blush, crimson, redden]

2. flow freely; "The garbage flushed down the river"

3. make level or straight; "level the ground" [syn: level, even out, even]

4. polish and make shiny; "buff the wooden floors"; "buff my shoes" [syn: buff, burnish, furbish]

5. rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid; "flush the wound with antibiotics"; "purge the old gas tank" [syn: scour, purge]

6. irrigate with water from a sluice; "sluice the earth" [syn: sluice]

7. cause to flow or flood with or as if with water; "flush the meadows"

Flush and flushing have several meanings:

Flush is a young adult novel by Carl Hiaasen first published in 2005, and set in Hiaasen's native Florida. It is his second young adult novel, after Hoot. The plot is similar to that of Hoot but it doesn't have the same cast and is not a continuation/sequel. The plot centers around Noah Underwood, a teenage boy whose father enlists his help to catch a repeat environmental offender in the act.

A flush is a hand of playing cards where all cards are of the same suit.

"Flush" is a song by American rock musician Brian "Head" Welch that was released as the first single from his debut album, Save Me from Myself, on July 8, 2008 exclusively on the iTunes Store.