flush English · revision 39580

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈflʌʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|rush, blush; level}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=a1300, King Horn}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb meaning "to fly up suddenly" is [[inh|enm|flusshen]], recorded first in past forms such as [[m|enm|fliste]] and [[m|enm|fluste]] in the 13th century.^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) 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]],^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986)^(Weekley 1921) and the Oxford Dictionary of English calls it symbolic, since “fl-” begins many words for sudden movement, perhaps influenced by [[flash]] and [[blush]].^(ODE 2010)^(Cresswell 2021) 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'';^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Klein calls it a blend of ''flash'' and ''blush'',^(Klein 1966) and Weekley thinks the reddening of the face owes something to ''blush''.^(Weekley 1921) The adjective (c. 1550) is probably related to the verb, perhaps through the idea of being full or copiously drenched;^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) its sense "level" may first have been used of a river running full, and so level with its banks.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To fly up quickly and suddenly, to start up and fly away: a1300, in ''King Horn''.^(OED 2026) Barnhart has the forms ''flisen'', ''flusen'' about 1250, and Merriam-Webster dates the verb to the 13th century.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==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.^(OED 2026) 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).^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) 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.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) 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.^(OED 2026) To cleanse a drain with a rush of water is recorded from 1789, and the ''flush toilet'' from 1908.^(OED 2026) The adjective meant faultless (?1550), abundantly full (Shakespeare, a1616) and full of life or spirit (in ''Hamlet'', 1604);^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) from 1603 it also meant well supplied, especially with money.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Johnson (1755) called that last sense "a cant word".^(Johnson 1755) The sense "level, in the same plane" is recorded of a ship's deck from 1626 and generally from 1791, in Bentham;^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) from it came the adverb, used in boxing of a blow landing squarely (1812), and a verb, to make level, used in building (1842).^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) Among slang senses, Green's Dictionary records ''flush'' for "drunk" from 1737 and the US verb "to reject, discard" from 1955.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * about 1250 – ''flisen'', ''flusen''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a1300 – to fly up suddenly.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1450 – to make birds fly up.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1529 – a sudden rush of water.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1548 – to rush out, spurt.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * ?1550 – adjective, faultless (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1596 – a flight of birds started up.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1603 – well supplied, especially with money.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1614 – a rush of emotion or elation.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1630 – a glow, a reddening of the face.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1709 – of the face, to redden.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1789 – to cleanse a drain with a rush of water.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1791 – level, in the same plane.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1842 – to make level.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1908 – ''flush toilet''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1950 – to drive out, bring into the open.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # Of the face or skin, to turn red, as from [[embarrassment]], heat or fever; to [[blush]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # To clean a [[toilet]], pipe or other channel with a rush of water; also, to get rid of something in this way.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Of water, to flow suddenly and freely.^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To make a game bird fly up from cover; to drive a person out of hiding, usually ''flush out''.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # To make a surface or joint level with an adjoining one.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A reddening of the face or skin; a ''blush''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A sudden flow of water, or the act of flushing a toilet.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A rush of feeling or [[elation]]: ''in the first flush of'' enthusiasm.^(OED 2026)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A fresh growth, as of leaves or shoots.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A flight of birds suddenly started up.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # (informal) Having plenty of money: ''We were flush after payday.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Exactly level with an adjoining surface.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (printing) Not [[indented]].^(OED 2026)

+ # Full to overflowing.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # So as to be level with an adjoining surface.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Squarely, directly: ''The punch landed flush on his jaw.''^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ {{homograph|2|hand of cards}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=a1529, J. Skelton, Speke Parrot|origins=la fluō}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The hand of cards is probably [[bor|frm|flus]], a variant of [[m|frm|flux|t=a flowing; a run of cards]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)^(Weekley 1921) a learned borrowing of [[la|fluxus|t=a flow]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) from [[m|la|fluō|t=to flow]], the source also of [[flux]].^(Klein 1966) 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.^(OED 2026) Weekley notes that Urquhart translated Rabelais's ''flux'' as flusse, and that Cotgrave (1611) glossed the French phrase [[m|frm|passe sans flux]] as "passe, I am not flush".^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A hand of cards all of one suit: a1529, in John Skelton's ''Speke Parrot''.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the noun came an adjective, holding a flush (1591, in Florio), later forming a flush, of a hand or sequence (1883).^(OED 2026) Florio's dictionary of 1598 also has ''flush'' as the name of a card game, a use now obsolete.^(OED 2026) 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.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a1529 – a hand of cards of one suit.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1591 – adjective, holding a flush.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1598 – the name of a card game (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1883 – adjective, of a hand or sequence, forming a flush.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # In [[poker]] and other card games, a hand in which all the cards are of the same [[suit]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[straight flush]]

+ * [[royal flush]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[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,^(Wright 1898) an archaic sense that Merriam-Webster derives from an alteration of [[fledge]].^(MWU 2024) 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.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}