Etymologically
Log in

flush

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word flush

Pronunciation

flush1 rush, blush; level

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Inherited
First attested
a1300, King Horn
Inherited from
Middle English flusshen

Etymology

The verb meaning "to fly up suddenly" is inherited from Middle English flusshen, recorded first in past forms such as fliste and fluste in the 13th century.[2][3][4] It is perhaps imitative: the OED suggests an initial “fl-” taken from fly and flutter and an ending imitating the sound of a swift flight, comparing rush,[5][2][6] and the Oxford Dictionary of English calls it symbolic, since “fl-” begins many words for sudden movement, perhaps influenced by flash and blush.[7][8] The verb used of liquids, "to rush out, spurt" (1548), is of uncertain origin; it was perhaps originally the same verb, through the shared notion of sudden movement, but its senses were influenced by flash;[5][9][3] Klein calls it a blend of flash and blush,[10] and Weekley thinks the reddening of the face owes something to blush.[6] The adjective (c. 1550) is probably related to the verb, perhaps through the idea of being full or copiously drenched;[5][11][3][9] its sense "level" may first have been used of a river running full, and so level with its banks.[5][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fly up quickly and suddenly, to start up and fly away: a1300, in King Horn.[5] Barnhart has the forms flisen, flusen about 1250, and Merriam-Webster dates the verb to the 13th century.[9][4]

Semantic evolution

In hunting, to make birds fly up is recorded from 1450, a flight of birds started up from 1596 (in Spenser), and to drive a person out of hiding, or to bring something into the open, from 1950.[5] The water senses begin with a noun, a sudden rush of water (1529, in Thomas More), and the verb, to spurt or flow with force (1548).[5][9] Light and colour followed: a glow or the reddening of the face from 1630, the blood rushing to the face in Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), and the face reddening from 1709.[5][9] Figuratively, a flush was a rush of emotion or elation from 1614, giving phrases like in the first flush of victory or youth, and a fresh growth of leaves or grass from 1773.[5] To cleanse a drain with a rush of water is recorded from 1789, and the flush toilet from 1908.[5] The adjective meant faultless (?1550), abundantly full (Shakespeare, a1616) and full of life or spirit (in Hamlet, 1604);[5][9] from 1603 it also meant well supplied, especially with money.[5][9][3] Johnson (1755) called that last sense "a cant word".[12] The sense "level, in the same plane" is recorded of a ship's deck from 1626 and generally from 1791, in Bentham;[5][9] from it came the adverb, used in boxing of a blow landing squarely (1812), and a verb, to make level, used in building (1842).[5][4] Among slang senses, Green's Dictionary records flush for "drunk" from 1737 and the US verb "to reject, discard" from 1955.[13]

Timeline

  • about 1250 – flisen, flusen.[9]
  • a1300 – to fly up suddenly.[5]
  • 1450 – to make birds fly up.[5]
  • 1529 – a sudden rush of water.[5]
  • 1548 – to rush out, spurt.[5][9]
  • ?1550 – adjective, faultless (obsolete).[5]
  • 1596 – a flight of birds started up.[5]
  • 1603 – well supplied, especially with money.[5][9]
  • 1614 – a rush of emotion or elation.[5]
  • 1630 – a glow, a reddening of the face.[5]
  • 1709 – of the face, to redden.[5]
  • 1789 – to cleanse a drain with a rush of water.[5]
  • 1791 – level, in the same plane.[5][9]
  • 1842 – to make level.[5][4]
  • 1908 – flush toilet.[5]
  • 1950 – to drive out, bring into the open.[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. Of the face or skin, to turn red, as from embarrassment, heat or fever; to blush.
  2. To clean a toilet, pipe or other channel with a rush of water; also, to get rid of something in this way.
  3. Of water, to flow suddenly and freely.
  4. To make a game bird fly up from cover; to drive a person out of hiding, usually flush out.
  5. To make a surface or joint level with an adjoining one.

Noun

  1. A reddening of the face or skin; a blush.
  2. A sudden flow of water, or the act of flushing a toilet.
  3. A rush of feeling or elation: in the first flush of enthusiasm.
  4. A fresh growth, as of leaves or shoots.
  5. A flight of birds suddenly started up.

Adjective

  1. (informal) Having plenty of money: We were flush after payday.
  2. Exactly level with an adjoining surface.
  3. (printing) Not indented.
  4. Full to overflowing.

Adverb

  1. So as to be level with an adjoining surface.
  2. Squarely, directly: The punch landed flush on his jaw.

flush2 hand of cards

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
a1529, J. Skelton, Speke Parrot
Borrowed from
Middle French flus
Ultimate origin
Latin fluō

Etymology

The hand of cards is probably borrowed from Middle French flus, a variant of flux (“a flowing; a run of cards”),[9][4][11][6] a learned borrowing of Latin fluxus (“a flow”),[9][4][10] from fluō (“to flow”), the source also of flux.[10] The OED calls the immediate source uncertain: French has flux, flus in this sense from the 15th century, and the Spanish, Flemish and Italian words are probably from French, but the English word might also be an alteration of the native noun for a rush of water.[5] Weekley notes that Urquhart translated Rabelais's flux as flusse, and that Cotgrave (1611) glossed the French phrase passe sans flux as "passe, I am not flush".[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hand of cards all of one suit: a1529, in John Skelton's Speke Parrot.[5][9]

Semantic evolution

From the noun came an adjective, holding a flush (1591, in Florio), later forming a flush, of a hand or sequence (1883).[5] Florio's dictionary of 1598 also has flush as the name of a card game, a use now obsolete.[5] In poker the word names five cards of one suit, and the straight flush and royal flush are five cards of one suit in sequence.[4][11]

Timeline

  • a1529 – a hand of cards of one suit.[5][9]
  • 1591 – adjective, holding a flush.[5]
  • 1598 – the name of a card game (obsolete).[5]
  • 1883 – adjective, of a hand or sequence, forming a flush.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. In poker and other card games, a hand in which all the cards are of the same suit.

Word family

  • straight flush
  • royal flush
  • flash
  • blush
  • flux
  • fluent
  • fledge

Usage notes

Dialect has further words of this spelling: in Ireland and the Midland and southern counties of England flush meant fledged, of young birds,[14] an archaic sense that Merriam-Webster derives from an alteration of fledge.[4] In Yorkshire a pit was said to flush when it stopped work, and in Lakeland and Yorkshire flush was a children's game played with pins on New Year's Day.[14]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Flush.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/flush. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·