Noun spate has 3 senses
- batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, muckle, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad, whole lot, whole slew - (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost plenty"
--1 is a kind of large indefinite quantity, large indefinite amount
--1 has particulars: flood, inundation, deluge, torrent
- rush, spate, surge, upsurge - a sudden forceful flow
--2 is a kind of flow, flowing
--2 has particulars: debris surge, debris storm; onrush
- freshet, spate - the occurrence of a water flow resulting from sudden rain or melting snow
--3 is a kind of flow, flowing
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