Word of the Day: spate

The word of the day is spate:

1. a sudden, almost overwhelming, outpouring: a spate of angry words.
2. British.
1. a flood or inundation.
2. a river flooding its banks.
3. a sudden or heavy rainstorm.

early 15c., originally Scottish and northern English, "a sudden flood, especially one caused by heavy rains or a snowmelt," of unknown origin. Perhaps from O.Fr. espoit "flood," from Du. spuiten "to flow, spout;" related to spout. Figurative sense of "unusual quantity" is attested from 1610s.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spate)

"The Louveteau River was in spate; bushes and trees torn up by the roots eddied and snagged."

 - Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin