flushed

¹ American  

[fluhsht] / flʌʃt /

adjective

1. having rosy or reddish skin as a result of exertion, cold, embarrassment, fever, etc..

   Common food allergy symptoms include a flushed face, hives, or a red and itchy rash around the mouth or eyes.

2. flooded or sprayed thoroughly with water, as for cleansing.

   Next, disinfect the flushed wound with hydrogen peroxide.

   Before adding antifreeze to a freshly flushed cooling system, drain the radiator of water and close the petcock.

3. (of a sewer, toilet, etc.) washed out by a sudden rush of water.

   Parts of the secret document were found by a lab technician in an improperly flushed toilet.

4. having been rushed through a toilet, sewer, etc., along with water in the course of washing it out.

   The plumber told us that the cause of our slow drain was a flushed sock.

5. animated, excited, or inflamed.

   I walked away from the conversation with a flushed sense of power.

6. Computers.

   1. (of a buffer, cache, hard drive, etc.) emptied by deleting the data or transferring it to permanent storage.

      The commit-to-disk feature ensures that the data from a flushed buffer is not lost in the event of a system failure.

   2. (of data) deleted or transferred to more permanent storage.

      If needed again, the flushed data can be found and reloaded from the cloud storage system.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of flush.

flushed ² American  

[fluhsht] / flʌʃt /

adjective

1. (of a game bird or other animal) driven from cover so that it flies up or springs forth suddenly; roused.

   Jim’s shot brought down the flushed pheasant before anyone else could get a shot off.

2. (of a person) forced out of hiding.

   The snipers focused on breaks in the foliage where a flushed fugitive might be revealed.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of flush.

Etymology

Origin of flushed¹

First recorded in 1660–70; 1995–2000 flushed ¹ for def. 6; flush ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; flush ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Origin of flushed²

First recorded in 1875–80; flush ³ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; flush ³ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

A young couple look into each other’s eyes, their faces flushed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026

Elevated volume last week feels like weak shareholders have been flushed out and a fresh regime of new investors has emerged.

From Barron's • Feb. 12, 2026

Instead, the best of James Harden, Ivica Zubac and a finally healthy Kawhi Leonard has been flushed.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2026

Martin Lewis said in his BBC Radio 5Live podcast that he knew of people who had been "panicked into overpaying" and for most borrowers it would be money "flushed" away.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2026

Her face is flushed, and her hair is a hot mess.

From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper

Related Words

• embarrassed
• rosy