freshet

American  

[fresh-it] / ˈfrɛʃ ɪt /

noun

1. a freshwater stream flowing into the sea.

2. a sudden rise in the level of a stream, or a flood, caused by heavy rains or the rapid melting of snow and ice.

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freshet British  

/ ˈfrɛʃɪt /

noun

1. the sudden overflowing of a river caused by heavy rain or melting snow

2. a stream of fresh water emptying into the sea

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Related Words

See flood.

Etymology

Origin of freshet

First recorded in 1590–1600; fresh (noun) + -et

Example Sentences

However, spring spill would be boosted, to help spring Chinook by providing something more like a spring freshet for young fish migrating to the sea.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 14, 2023

“The play itself is a freshet of good will, a celebration of the indomitability of man, a call to return to the earth,” the critic Mel Gussow wrote in the Times in 1979.

From New York Times • Mar. 21, 2023

Elms, highest in the floodplain, drop seeds first because that’s where the spring freshet first recedes, then silver maples, then cottonwoods, then willows, each feeding different bird species as they arrive.

From Slate • Oct. 14, 2019

Its tiny seeds will float atop the current of a spring freshet, and, waterborne to a sandy beach, sprout within 24 hours of hitting even the barest cobble.

From Seattle Times • May 21, 2018

Some way below the mere they came on a deep well of water, clear as crystal, from which a freshet fell over a stone lip and ran glistening and gurgling down a steep rocky channel.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien