[f. SPRING sb.1 + FLOOD sb. So Du. springvloed, WFris. -floed, G. -flut, Da. and Sw. -flod.]
† 1. = SPRING-TIDE 2. Also in fig. context. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 342. Thanne shal she been euene atte fulle alway And spryng flood laste bothe nyght and day.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 193. Þat ȝe mowe flowe in sprynge-flood of vertuys, hye vp to þe hyll of heuen.
1648. Hexham, II. Een Springh, ofte Springh-vloedt, a Spring-floud, or a Spring-tide.
2. A river-flood occurring in spring-time.
1823. Joanna Baillie, Poems, 30. Then streams, like a spring-food, her wealth without measure.
1853. Mrs. Moodie, Life in Clearings, 29. The spring-floods bring with them a great quantity of waste timber and fallen trees from the interior.
