luto-, lut-, luv-, lu- +
(Latin: wash, clean; washing of water against the shore; a flood)
From Latin luere, "to wash" which is related to lavare, "to wash".
alluvial ore
Valuable mineral particles that have been transported by a river or stream.
alluvial plain, wash plain, waste plain
A flat or gently sloping tract of land alongside a periodically overflowing river that is produced by the deposition of alluvium.
alluvial slope
An alluvial surface that slopes down and away from a mountainside and merges with a plain or broad valley floor.
alluvial soil
A soil developed on flood plains and deltas, having only the characteristics of the alluvium of which it is composed.
alluvial terrace, built terrace, drift terrace, fill terrace
A terraced embankment of loose, unconsolidated alluvial material that is built up adjacent to the sides of a river valley.
alluviation
The deposition or formation of alluvial sediments or features at any point along the course of a river or a stream.
alluvion
1. The flow of water against a shore or bank.
2. Inundation by water; flood.
3 In law, the increasing of land area along a shore by deposited alluvium or by the recession of water.
alluvium (s), alluvia (pl)
Sediment consisting of mud, sand, silt, gravel, and other unconsolidated detrital matter that is carried along and deposited by flowing water.
The largest particles (sand and gravel) tend to accumulate within the channel itself. Particles of clay, silt, and fine sand are small enough to be suspended in flowing water.
When the stream overflows its banks, these particles can be distributed across the valley floor. These overbank or flood deposits are the most common contexts in which buried archaeological sites are found.
Stream valley floors are underlain by deposits of alluvium and often contain buried archaeological sites.
antediluvian
1. Of or relating to the period before the Biblical flood: "Antediluvian man."
2. Any of the early patriarchs who lived prior to the Deluge.
3. So extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period:
"A ramshackle antediluvian tenement."
"Antediluvian ideas."
"Archaic laws."
4. A very old (or old fashioned) person.
5. Coined by English physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682).
colluvial
1. A reference to the loose accumulation of rock and soil debris at the foot of a slope.
2. A deposit resulting from soil erosion, usually at the foot of a slope and containing rock detritus (matter produced by the wearing away of exposed surfaces, especially the gravel, sand, clay, or other materials eroded and washed away by water) or talus (a natural slope formed by the accumulation of rock debris).
A talus consists of rock fragments which have been transported downslope by flowing water or falling off the cliff from which they were wedged by ice and accumulating as angular debris at the base of steep slopes.
At the bottom of slopes, soils lose their structure and become eroded due to clearance of forest, plowing, or cultivation.
Colluvial material typically gathers in the dry valleys of chalklands and also at the foot of escarpments or valley sides.
colluvium
Any loose, heterogenous sediment deposited by rainwash, sheetwsh, or slow continuous downslope creep, usually at the base of a cliff or slope.
cryoablution
The removal of a body part, such as a wart, by freezing (transliteration: "freeze bath" or "freeze wash").
deluge
1. A sudden heavy downpour of rain or a torrent of water.
2. A vast quantity or an overwhelming amount of something in excess; such as, if by a great flood
"The movie star received a deluge of fan mail."
3. To overwhelm, as with a deluge; to cover; to overspread; to overpower; to submerge; to destroy; as, the northern nations did not anticipate the deluge of the Roman empire with their armies.
4. Etymology: from Old French
deluge, earlier
deluve; from Latin
diluvium, from
diluere, "wash away"; from
dis-, "away" +
-luere, a combining form of
lavere, "to wash".
deluged
1. A large amount of rain that suddenly fell in an area.
The deluged hills resulted in several mudslides."
2. A situation in which a large area of land has become completely covered with water; inundated, overwhelmed, or swamped.
3. A large amount of things that have come at the same time; such as, several countries have been deluged with financial woes.
"All of the media has suddenly deluged us with home foreclosures, bank failures, Ponzi schemes, swindlers, high unemployment, and other economic disasters."
dilute
1. To make thinner or less concentrated by adding a liquid; such as, water.
2. To lessen the force, strength, purity, or brilliance of, especially by admixture.
3. To decrease the value of (shares of stock) by increasing the total number of shares.
4. Reduced in strength as a result of containing an added liquid.
A special article about the historical background of washing and ablutions or cleanliness via washing.
Related "wash" words:
balneo-;
clys-;
lav-;
plyno-.
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