Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Having a plentiful supply of money; wealthy: Being in a state of abundant financial resources.
   • Exactly even or level with an adjoining surface: Forming a continuous, flat plane with another surface.
   • Having a red or rosy color, especially in the face: Exhibiting a healthy or emotional reddish complexion.

2. Adverb:

   • So as to be level or even: Positioned in the same plane as another surface.
   • Squarely or directly: Hitting or facing something in a straight, direct manner.

3. Noun:

   • A reddening of the face, typically from emotion: A sudden blush due to embarrassment, guilt, or modesty.
   • A sudden, rapid flow of liquid: A brief, strong gush of water or another substance.
   • A surge of feeling or excitement: A sudden, intense wave of emotion or sensation.
   • A hand in poker where all cards are of the same suit: A specific, strong combination in the card game poker.
   • A period of freshness, vigor, or prosperity: The peak or most thriving stage of something.

4. Verb:

   • To cleanse or rinse with a sudden flow of liquid: To wash out by causing water to flow through forcefully.
   • To cause to flow freely: To make a liquid surge or flood.
   • To become red in the face; to blush: To have one's face turn red, often from emotion.
   • To glow with warm color: To become suffused with a reddish or rosy light.
   • To level or make even: To bring a surface into the same plane as another.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:

  • The company was flush with cash after the successful IPO.
  • Ensure the panel is flush with the wall for a seamless look.
  • Her cheeks were flush from the cold winter air.

• Adverb:

  • Install the shelf so it sits flush against the bracket.
  • The boxer was hit flush on the jaw.

• Noun:

  • A flush of embarrassment spread across his face.
  • He heard the flush of the toilet.
  • Winning the award gave her a flush of pride.
  • He won the hand with a royal flush.
  • She was in the flush of her youth.

• Verb:

  • Please flush the wound with clean water.
  • He opened the valve to flush the pipes.
  • She flushed when he complimented her.
  • The sky flushed with the colors of dawn.
  • They used a plane to flush the uneven concrete.

Advanced Usage

• "Flush with" (Adjective Phrase): Having an abundance of something, especially money or a resource.

  • The startup was flush with investor funding.

• "In the first flush of" (Idiomatic Phrase): In the early, most vigorous stage of something.

  • They were in the first flush of their romance.

Variants and Related Words

• Flushed (Adjective): Having a reddened face, typically from emotion, heat, or exertion.

  • He arrived, flushed and out of breath.

• Flushness (Noun): The state of being level or even; or the state of being plentiful.

  • The carpenter checked the flushness of the joints.

• Flushable (Adjective): Designed to be disposed of by flushing down a toilet.

  • The product is marketed as flushable.

Synonyms

• Adjective (Wealthy): Affluent, prosperous, loaded.
• Adjective (Level): Even, level, aligned.
• Noun (Blush): Blush, redness, glow.
• Noun (Flow): Gush, surge, outpouring.
• Verb (Clean): Rinse, cleanse, sluice.
• Verb (Blush): Blush, redden, color.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Flush out:
  • To force something out into the open by using a flow of liquid or pressure.

    • They used water to flush out the rodents from the burrow.
  • To expose or reveal something hidden.

    • The investigation aimed to flush out the truth.

Related Idioms

• Royal flush: In poker, an unbeatable hand consisting of an ace, king, queen, jack, and ten, all of the same suit. Often used metaphorically to mean the best possible combination.

  • Getting that contract was a royal flush for their business.

• Flush it (Informal): To discard or get rid of something, often with finality.

  • That idea didn't work; let's just flush it and start over.

Adjective

1. having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value
   • an affluent banker
   • a speculator flush with cash
   • not merely rich but loaded
   • moneyed aristocrats
   • wealthy corporations
2. of a surface exactly even with an adjoining one, forming the same plane
   • a door flush with the wall
   • the bottom of the window is flush with the floor

Adverb

1. in the same plane
   • set it flush with the top of the table
2. squarely or solidly
   • hit him flush in the face

Noun

1. sudden reddening of the face (as from embarrassment or guilt or shame or modesty)
2. a sudden rapid flow (as of water)
   • he heard the flush of a toilet
   • there was a little gush of blood
   • she attacked him with an outpouring of words
3. the swift release of a store of affective force
   • they got a great bang out of it
   • what a boot!
   • he got a quick rush from injecting heroin
   • he does it for kicks
4. a poker hand with all 5 cards in the same suit
5. sudden brief sensation of heat (associated with menopause and some mental disorders)
6. a rosy color (especially in the cheeks) taken as a sign of good health
7. the period of greatest prosperity or productivity

Verb

1. cause to flow or flood with or as if with water
   • flush the meadows
2. irrigate with water from a sluice
   • sluice the earth
3. rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid
   • flush the wound with antibiotics
   • purge the old gas tank
4. make level or straight
   • level the ground
5. glow or cause to glow with warm color or light
   • the sky flushed with rosy splendor
6. flow freely
   • The garbage flushed down the river
7. turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame
   • The girl blushed when a young man whistled as she walked by