Flush sb.²

[f. FLUSH v.²]

  † 1.  A pool or puddle. Obs.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 18.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VII. Prol. 54.

  2.  A sudden increase in the volume of a stream; a rush of water coming down suddenly, or let down for a specific purpose.

1529.  More, Dyaloge, III. Wks. 245/2. It woulde happely be thought not a thyng metely to be aduentured to set all on a flushe at ones, and dashe rashelye out holye scrypture in euerye lewde felowes teeth.

1677.  Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 189. By making three Holds for water in the River Sharwell near Oxford, to be let down as flushes in dry times.

1691.  Ray, Creation, II. (1704), 316. The pulsation of the heart, driving the blood through them in manner of a wave or flush.

1850.  Netherway, Suggest. Drainage Lond., 18. By a small reservoir, and letting it off by sluices … a sufficient flush would be obtained.

1854.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XV. I. 13. Cattle driven by a flush of water to some isolated spot of ground.

1870.  Illustr. Lond. News, 24 Sept., 319. Owing to … the want of a good flush of water, few of them [trout] were taken.

  b.  A sudden plentiful increase or abundance of anything. Also, rarely, † the mass, great majority.

1593.  G. Harvey, Four Lett., Ep. Ded. Wks. (Grosart), I. 156. Pierce Pennylesse (although the Deuels Oratour by profession, and his Dammes Poet by practise) in such a flush of notable good fellowes, cannot possibly want many to reade him.

1617.  Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1849), II. 7. I marvel how we shall do hereafter, when upon such a flush we are already come to so low an ebb.

a. 1626.  Bacon, Certificate of Mint, Wks. 1740, I. App. 63. Neither the great flush of gold that is come into the Mint since the proclamation, nor on the other side the great scarcity of silver, can continue in proportion as it now doth.

a. 1679.  T. Goodwin, Wks., II. III. 112. The shoal and the flush of Mankind.

1738.  [G. Smith], Curious Relat., II. 311. When they had given their Folly a sudden Flush.

1823.  Maginn, The Night Walker, in Blackw. Mag., XIV. Nov., 507/2. The last flush of passengers is seen in the streets of London.

  c.  The stream from a mill-wheel.

a. 1825.  in Fordy, Voc. E. Anglia.

1892.  T. Southwell, A Gossip about Eels, in Longm. Mag., XXI. Nov., 87–8. The course being down stream, they [eels] are readily taken by nets so placed as to intercept them as they pass through mill flushes, and in this way at times very large quantities are captured.

  d.  Coal-mining. (See quot.)

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, Flush, a small quantity of ignited fire-damp.

  3.  A rush of emotion or passion; elation or excitement arising from this, or from success, victory, etc. Phr. in the (first, full) flush.

1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, III. 17. Unreasonable flushes of proud and vaine joy.

1692.  R. L’Estrange, Fables, ccccxliii. Never had any Man such a Loss in a Woman certainly as I have had! Cries a Widdower, in the Flush of his Extravagancies for a Dead Wife: Never so dear a Creature!

1829.  Lytton, Devereux, II. vii. St. John was now in power, and in the full flush of his many ambitious and restless schemes.

1843.  Lever, J. Hinton, xxii. How a momentary flush of passionate indignation had carried me away beyond the bounds of reason and sense.

1850.  Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), I. i. 40. The plunder of all Italy seemed within their reach, and was too tempting to be relinquished in the first flush of victory.

1867.  Parkman, Jesuits N. Amer., xvii. (1875), 241. The Confederates at this time were in a flush of unparalleled audacity.

  4.  A sudden shooting up; a fresh growth (of grass, leaves, or flowers). Also in full flush.

1773.  Steevens, in Shaks. Wks., Note on Lear, IV. vi. 124. Soyled horse is a term used for a horse that has been fed with hay and corn in the stable during the winter, and is turned out in the spring to take the first flush of grass, or has it cut and carried in to him.

1803.  Trans. Soc. Encourg. Arts, XXI. 119–20. The showers in July and hot weather in August bringing up a new flush of annuals, made it necessary to hand-weed the whole.

1844.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 49. The general flush of grass, which comes on generally late in April, is the period when the Jersey farmer looks forward with anxiety.

1882.  The Garden, XXI. 11 March, 169/2. If planted upon hills, avoid producing a too vigorous flush of Vine by feeding or the use of manure.

1893.  Cornh. Mag., Nov., 534. Brown coolies are picking the young shoots, now in full ‘flush’ after a heavy shower.

  5.  The act of cleansing (a drain) by flushing.

1883.  Pall Mall G., 21 Nov., 4/2. The quantity for a flush is two gallons.

  6.  A glow of light or color, esp. the reddening in the face caused by a rush of blood; also, the rush of blood itself.

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Praise Cleane Linnen, Wks. II. 1691.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Flush, a Red Colour in the Face.

1803.  Med. Jrnl., X. 552. Feet swelled, periodical hectic flushes, accompanied with cough.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, iv. 55. I see a fiery flush on this side, which I suppose comes from some iron-work near.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xviii. 131. It could neither be called anger nor pride, but a warm flush ran through me as I remarked, that I should take good care not to test his power of holding me.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., IV. xvi. 299. ‘It [a crutch-stick] belongs to me,’ returned the little creature, with a quick flush of her face and neck. ‘I am lame.’

1873.  Black, Pr. Thule, xxiv. 405. All along the west, where her home was, lay a great flush of gold, and she knew that Loch Roag was shining there.

  fig.  1851.  Carlyle, Sterling, I. iii. (1872), 13. Stormy brief efforts at energetic husbandry, at agricultural improvement and rapid field-labour, alternated with sudden flights to Dublin, to London, whithersoever any flush of bright outlook which he could denominate practical, or any gleam of hope which his impatient ennui could represent as such, allured him.

  b.  A hot fit in a fever.

1858.  O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., x. 99. The throbbing flushes of the poetical intermittent have been coming over me from time to time of late.

1869.  Peacock, Lonsdale Gloss., Flush, the hot stage of a fever.

  7.  Glow, freshness, vigor (of beauty, health, life).

1735.  Somerville, The Chace, III. 448.

1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, V. x. A terrible consciousness of meeting death in the very flush of life.

1856.  Masson, Ess., v. 166. In the year 1726, Swift, then in his sixtieth year, and in the full flush of his new popularity as the champion of Irish nationality, visited England for the first time since Queen Anne’s death.

1874.  Miss Braddon, Taken at Flood, ii. It was in the very flush of summer, the ripe, rich month of July.

  8.  Comb., as flush-box, -pot, -tank, -vent; flush-wheel (see quot. 1874).

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 350/2. *Flush Box. A cistern for especial use in dwellings where the supply of water is intermittent.

1884.  G. E. Waring, The Principles and Practice of House-Drainage, in Century Mag., XXIX. Dec., 264/2. The outlet of the *flush-pot is closed with a plug. Ibid., 255/1. It [house-drainage] begins at the sewer, or *flush-tank, or—in barbarous instances—at the cess-pool.

1884.  Health Exhib. Catal., 60/2. Owen’s Patent Single *Flushvent.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 892/1. *Flush-wheel. A wheel used in raising water for draining.