[Of uncertain etymology.
Perh. orig. identical with prec., the notion of ‘sudden movement’ being common to the two vbs. But the development of meaning appears to have been influenced by phonetic association with FLASH v.2 (nearly all the senses of which have passed over to this vb., either unchanged or with modifications traceable to the echoism of the differing vowel), while the senses relating to color have been affected by association with blush. It is doubtful whether there has been any influence from F. flux (see FLUX) or fluiss-, fluir to flow (whence the Du. fluissen to flow violently).]
I. Expressing sudden movement, esp. of a liquid.
1. intr. To rush out suddenly or copiously, to spurt; to flow with force or violence; also with forth, out, over, up. Said esp. of liquids, a river, etc., but also of immaterial things and fig.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. IV. (an. 1), 18 b. A great tempesteous rage and furious storme sodainely flusshed and drowned .xii. of his great shippes whiche laie in the mouthe of the hauen for his safegard and defence.
1567. Drant, Horace’s Epist., xv. E vj.
| Wine that will wake one thinke | |
| Of cherie thinges, and that will flushe into my mynde, and vaines, | |
| Assuringe me, that I shal be a man of ample gaines. |
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 221. From hence flush out all these fluddes of complaints.
1634. H. Mason, Art of Lying, ii. 35. Be thankefull to him, that can and will discouer the Spring, or Well-head, whence first flushed forth this muddy Nylus, so fertile of Crocodiles, I meane of this sophistique Crocodilites, whereby vnware men are ouer-reached and caught.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Nice Valour, III. ii.
| Lapet. O your crush’d nostrils slakes your opilation | |
| And makes your pent powers flush to wholsome sneezes. |
1678. Bp. Nicholson, Exp. Catech., Ep. Ded. 5. If it be over-hastily done, more will flush over and be lost, than poured into the Vessel.
1691. Ray, Creation (1714), 45. Milk, which being heated to such a degree doth suddenly and as it were all at once flush up and run over the vessel.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 574. It flushes violently out of the Cock for about a Quart, and then stops on a sudden and porles and smiles in a Glass like any bottle Beer, tho’ in the Winter time.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 237.
| It flushes through nine mouths, a broken sea, | |
| And with a roaring deluge whelms the fields. |
2. To cause (water) to flow; to draw off; to draw off water from (a pond).
1594. Nashe, Vnfort. Trav., 57. If those ponds were so full they need to be flust or let out.
1815. Pocklington Canal Act, 35. If any person shall … cause to be flushed or drawn off any water.
† b. To burst out with, pour out suddenly.
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heaven, 142. For you cannot lightly talke with a man, but hee will flush out some of these [oathes] in his ordinary speech.
1642. R. Baker, trans. Malvezzi’s Disc. Tacitus, 166. He after makes his greedinesse of blood appeare the more, by flushing it out all at once.
3. To cleanse (a drain, etc.); to drive away (an obstacle) by means of a rush of water.
1789. Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, VII. 59. All these three several gates have four paddles at the bottom, three feet in length, and two feet in depth, which are drawn up by screws, to flush away any obstacle that may chance to impede their working.
1862. M. Hopkins, Hawaii, 32. Rains of a tropical character fall at this season, and also play their part in flushing streets and cleansing hidden corners.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. v. 141. Sewer-pipes should have a fall of at least two feet per hundred feet, and should be ‘flushed’ from time to time by a full stream of water.
absol. 1850. Netherway, Suggest. Drainage Lond., 4. This would entirely dispense with the necessity of flushing.
transf. and fig. 1861. Wynter, Soc. Bees, 277–8. The hot-air bath flushes the external sewers of the body, and the waters of exudation carry with them all effete particles lodged within them.
1880. L. S. Beale, Slight Ailm., 173. The alimentary canal is thoroughly flushed in every part, and the action takes place from above downwards.
1884. Henley & Stevenson, Adm. Guinea, I. viii. Pray for a new heart; flush out your sins with tears; flee while you may from the terrors of the wrath to come.
b. To inundate (a meadow).
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xxxvi. (1889), 354. Another considerable body of water, which had been carried off above from the main stream to flush the water-meadows, rejoined its parent at this point.
4. intr. Of a plant: To send out shoots; to shoot. Also trans. in causative sense.
1810. [see FLUSHING vbl. sb. 1 c].
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss., Flush, to make to grow. ‘This sup o’ rain hes flush’t th’ gress nistly.’
1893. Cornh. Mag., Nov., 543. The frequent showers of the verdant island ‘flush’ the tea about every fortnight, when the whole strength of the plantation turns out to pick the fresh shoots.
1893. Chamb. Jrnl., XXI. 7 Oct., 629/2. The tea-plants needs a moist heat, and this the climate of Johore affords so abundantly that the plants flush, or throw out fresh shoots, all the year round.
5. intr. ‘To become fluxed or fluid’ (Cent. Dict.).
1885. Farrow, Milit. Encycl., s.v. Brazing.… At this stage the solder flushes or becomes liquid enough to permeate the joint or crevice.
II. With reference to light or color.
6. intr. † a. To emit light or sparks suddenly. b. To glow with sudden brilliance. Cf. FLASH v.2 5 and 7.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. v. 90. Camphire though it flame well, yet will not flush so lively. Ibid. Thus in the preparation of Crocus Metallorum, the matter kindleth and flusheth like Gunpowder.
b. 1809. Campbell, Gertr. Wyom., II. xxv.
| Then would that home admit them—happier far | |
| That grandeur’s most magnificent saloon, | |
| While, here and there, a solitary star | |
| Flush’d in the darkening firmament of June. |
1843. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 26.
| On her pallid cheek and forehead came a colour and a light, | |
| As I have seen the rosy red flushing in the northern night. |
1868. Farrar, Silence & V., II. (1875), 46. The sunrise of its first day flushed over the manger, and the sunset of its last will fall red upon the cross.
7. Of the blood, etc.: To come with a rush, producing a heightened color. Cf. sense 2 and FLASH v.2 9.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 886.
| Thus Eve with Countnance blithe her storie told; | |
| But in her Cheek distemper flushing glowd. |
1677. Dryden, Stale Innoc., V. i. 30.
| What means that lovely fruit? what means, alas! | |
| That blood, which flushes guilty in your face? |
1708. Rowe, Royal Convert, IV. i.
| A burning Purple flushes o’er my Face, | |
| And Shame forbids my Tongue. |
1813. Byron, Br. Abydos, I. xiii.
| For, Alla! sure thy lips are flame: | |
| What fever in thy veins is flushing? | |
| My own have nearly caught the same, | |
| At least I feel my cheek too blushing. |
1845. Clough, Early Poems, xvii. 15.
| With such a thought the mantling blood to her cheek | |
| Flushed-up, and o’er-flushed itself. |
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xiii. The blood flushed in Eliza’s pale face.
8. Of the face, etc.: To become suffused with warm color; to become suddenly red or hot; to ‘color up,’ redden, blush. Also with up or with adj. as complement.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 33, 23 June, ¶ 7. My Lord passes by; I flushed into a Flame.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 177. There is a burning heat in the palms of the hands, and the face generally flushes after eating.
1851. D. Jerrold, St. Giles, x. 102. His face flushed red as flame, and covering it with his hands, he fell upon his knees.
1869. Dixon, Tower, I. x. 96. Henry flushed into rage; yet even in his fury he acted like a master of events.
1890. Besant, Demoniac, iv. 45. George flushed up; but he restrained himself.
quasi-trans.
1730–46. Thomson, Autumn, 261.
| Confused, and frightened at his sudden tears, | |
| Her rising beauties flush’d a higher bloom. |
9. trans. To make red or ruddy; to cause to blush or glow.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Pastorals, X. 33.
| Yet more amaz’d, thy own Apollo came. | |
| Flush’d were his Cheeks, and glowing were his Eyes. |
1731. A. Hill, Adv. Poets, i.
| Not the Low Muse, who lends Her feeble Fire, | |
| To flush pale Spleen, or light up loose Desire. |
1784. Cowper, Tiroc., 833.
| Now flushed with drunkenness, now with whoredom pale, | |
| Their breath a sample of last night’s regale. |
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, I. 138. I had left my home young, hale, flushed with health.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, xvii. 277. He did not even see that she had bowed to Ingram, with a face flushed with shame and pain, and with eyes cast down.
b. In wider sense: To suffuse or adorn with glowing color.
1746–7. Hervey, Refl. Flower-Garden, 62. They [tulips] flush the Parterre with one of the gayest Dresses that blooming Nature wears.
1821. Clare, The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, II. 69. Rural Morning.
| No straying beams from day’s unclosing eye | |
| In copper-colour’d patches flush the sky. |
1889. Lowell, Latest Lit. Ess. (1892), 83. A fine morning, a meadow flushed with primroses, are not only good in themselves, but sweeter and better because they give him occasion to be thankful for them.
10. To inflame with pride or passion; to animate, encourage; also with up; rarely, † to initiate in. Cf. FLESH v.1, which has influenced the sense.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter ii. 6. This so flesheth and flusheth her, that she thinks no more of God.
1667. Dryden, Maiden Queen, I. i. Cel. But once or twice only, ’till I am a little flush’d in my Acquaintance with other Ladies, and have learn’d to prey for myself.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1737), IV. 141. This [success] flushes him up, and makes him hard and insensible.
1713. Addison, Cato, I. ii.
| They strike with something like religious fear, | |
| And make even Cæsar tremble at the head | |
| Of armies flush’d with conquest. |
1742. Johnson, Debates in Parl., II. 94. What degrees of violence may they not be supposed to practise, who have flushed their new authority by a motion which was never projected since the first existence of our government, or offered by the most arbitrary minister in all the confidence of an established majority.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., Wks. V. 276. Flushed with the insolence of their first inglorious victories, and pressed by the distresses caused by the lust of unhallowed lucre, disappointed but not discouraged, they have at length ventured completely to subvert all property of all descriptions throughout the extent of a great kingdom.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. iv. 183. Flushed with success, they entered the Norman duchy, and attacked Rolf’s latest and most precious acquisition, Teutonic Bayeux.
