Meanings
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1
noun
a large mass of snow, ice, and sometimes rock that suddenly rushes down a mountain
The avalanche buried the road beneath several meters of snow.
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2
noun
a sudden, overwhelming quantity of things
The announcement triggered an avalanche of applications.
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3
verb
to descend rapidly in a great mass, or to overwhelm as if in an avalanche
Wet snow avalanched down the gully after the temperature rose.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Borrowed from French avalanche, from a Franco-Provençal Alpine word for a descending mass of snow. Its deeper origin is uncertain, but the form was influenced by French aval, 'downhill,' and has been connected with Late Latin and regional words derived from Latin labi, 'to slip or slide.' The figurative sense treats an overwhelming quantity as a rushing mass.