A flood or overflowing of a river, by means of heavy rains or melted snow; an inundation.--Webster.
This word is used in the Northern and Eastern States. That it is an old English word is evinced by the following extract from the Description of New England, written and published in England, in 1658:
Between Salem and Charlestown is situated the town of Lynn, next to a river, whose strong freshet at the end of the winter filleth all her banks, and with a violent torrent vents itself into the sea."--p. 29.
This word appears to be now confined to America; but the word fresh is still used in the north of England and in Scotland in precisely the same sense.