How to pronounce“spate”in English
All Video Occurrences for “spate” (50)
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Definitions of “spate”
A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.
“Thys Lepidium that Pliny & Paul [of Aegina] deſcribe⸝ groweth plentuouſly about the water ſyde that rynneth thorow Morpeth in Northumberland⸝ in ſuche places as great heapes of ſtones are caſten together wyth the myght of a great ſpat or flood.”
A sudden heavy downpour of rain.
“Doun comes a jaw o' droukin' rain / Upon their honours— / God sends a spate outower the plain, / Or mebbe thun'ers.”
To (suddenly) flood or inundate (a river or other watercourse) with water.
“[H]e paused in a reverie of wilderment and wonder when he could not discern the old fishing-places—they were deeply and darkly flooded for many yards on every side of the spated stream.”
To (suddenly) rain heavily; to pour.