spate
UK/speɪt/
spate noun: a (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.
Noun
spate (countable and uncountable, plural spates)
- A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.
- Thys Lepidium that Pliny & Paul [of Aegina] deſcribe⸝ groweth plentuouſly about the water ſyde that rynneth thorow Morpeth in Northumberland⸝ in ſuche places as great heapes of ſtones are caſten together wyth the myght of a great ſpat or flood.1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called Lepidium or Dittani”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folio 35, recto
- Arous'd by bluſtering vvinds an' ſpotting thovves, / In mony a torrent dovvn the ſnavv-broo rovves; / VVhile craſhing ice, borne on the roaring ſpeat, / Svveeps dams, an' mills, an' brigs, a' to the gate; […][1787, Robert Burns, “Auld Brig”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 76
- A sudden heavy downpour of rain.
- Doun comes a jaw o' droukin' rain / Upon their honours— / God sends a spate outower the plain, / Or mebbe thun'ers.[1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Blast—1875”, in Underwoods (in Scots), London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, book II (In Scots), page 101
- A sudden increase or rush of something; a flood, an outburst, an outpouring.
- Thy rural loves are nature's ſel; / Nae bombaſt ſpates o' nonſenſe ſwell; / Nae ſnap conceits, but that ſweet ſpell / O' witchin love, […]1869, Robert Burns, “Poem on Pastoral Poetry”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume III (Posthumous Poems), Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, →OCLC, page 45
- Here is a fine spate of work—a day diddled away, and nothing to show for it!1826 September 6 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 6 September 1826]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume I, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890...
Verb
spate (third-person singular simple present spates, present participle spating, simple past and past participle spated)
- To (suddenly) flood or inundate (a river or other watercourse) with water.
- [H]e paused in a reverie of wilderment and wonder when he could not discern the old fishing-places—they were deeply and darkly flooded for many yards on every side of the spated stream.1844 October, J. Nevay, “Mary Hepburn; or, The Victim of Slander. Chapter X.”, in The Ladies’ Cabinet of Fashion, Music, and Romance, volume II (New Series), London: G. Henderson, →OCLC, page 255
- A few of the very best angling streams in the Highlands are almost perennial in their flow; the Halladale, on the contrary, is subject to spating.1886 February 20, W. Murdoch, “Salmon and Trout-fishing in the Highlands of Scotland.—VII. The Halladale (Sutherlandshire).”, in R. B. Marston, editor, The Fishing Gazette; Devoted to Angling, River...
- To (suddenly) rain heavily; to pour.
spate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
spate in Tamil
- ஆற்று வௌளம், பொங்கு வௌளம், மிகுதி, வௌளப் பெருக்கு
spate in Urdu
- باڑھ, سیل آب
spate in Malayalam
- ജലപ്രളയം, വെള്ളപ്പൊക്കം
spate in Kannada
- ಅಸಾಧಾರಣ ಪ್ರವಾಹ, ಹುಚ್ಚು ನೆರೆ, ಅನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಳ, ಉಬ್ಬರ, ದೊಡ್ಡಮಳೆ, ಹೊರಹೊಮ್ಮಿಕೆ
Examples of spate in a sentence
- The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, / And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring / Stared at the spate.1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Gareth and Lynette”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; V), cabinet edition, London: Henry S....
- The glacial drip was already in evidence, and every creek in roaring spate.1902 October, Jack London, chapter XXIII, in A Daughter of the Snows, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC...
- At the edge of the burn, where the path turns downward, there is a patch of shingle washed up by some spate.1910, John Buchan, “The Man on the Kirkcaple Shore”, in Prester John, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, →OCLC, page 86:
- After a rainstorm on July 29, 1966, the Shihtouyu River in Lonan County was in full spate.1968 March 15, “Liang Chen-yu, a Good Cadre Reared on Mao Tse-tung's Thought”, in Peking Review, number 11, →OCLC, archived from the...
Forms of spate
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | spates |
| alternative form | spat |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | spates |
| present participle | spating |
| past participle | spated |
| past | spated |
Origin of spate
The noun is derived from Middle English spate, spait (“a flood”), influenced by Scots spate (“torrent of water, flood; heavy downpour of rain; (figurative) bout of drinking; large crowd of people; flood of events, words, etc.”). The further etymology of the Middle English and Scots words is uncertain; they are possibly related to English spatter and Dutch spatten (“to spatter, splash”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sp(y)ēw-, *spyū- (whence English spit (“to evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.”)), which is imitative of spitting. The verb is derived from the noun, probably influenced by Scots spate (“to flood, swell; to rain heavily; (figurative) to scold fiercely”).
Words formed from spate
Words that rhyme with spate
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- mate
- late
- bate
- create
- date
- relate
- vibrate
- wait
- deflate
- fate
- migrate
- rebate
- rotate
- strait
- supererogate
- translocate
- await
- eight
- freight
- skate
- alternate
- collate
- debate
- inflate
- sedate
- update
- compensate
- delate
- dilate
- fixate
- grate
- Haight
- hate
- implicate
- innate
- intercalate
- locate
- mandate
- negate
- overweight
- pinnate
- quadrate
- tate
- vacate
- aerate
- calibrate
- castrate
- conflate
Questions about spate
- What does spate mean?
- Spate means a (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.
- What is spate in Tamil?
- Spate in Tamil is ஆற்று வௌளம், பொங்கு வௌளம், மிகுதி. See Spate meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use spate in a sentence?
- The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, / And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring / Stared at the spate.
- What part of speech is spate?
- Spate can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce spate?
- Spate is pronounced /speɪt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of spate?
- The plural of spate is spates.
Words near spate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: spate (page history and authors); spate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); spate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); spate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); spate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-spate.ogg.
Cite this entry: “spate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.