freshets

Noun

freshet (plural freshets)

1. A flood resulting from heavy rain or a spring thaw.
   • Log after log is hauled to the bank of the river, and in a short time their first raft is made on the shore and loaded with cordwood. When the next freshet sets it afloat, it is secured by long grapevines or cables until, the proper time being arrived, the husband and sons embark on it and float...1831, John James Audubon, Early Settlers Along the Mississippi
2. (poetic) A small stream, especially one flowing into the sea.
   • “His arrival upon any scene was never in the smallest degree uproarious, and still less was it in the least mild or serene; yet he came into a settled circle like a freshet of tumbling water into a still pool!”1915, Arthur Christopher Benson, Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother