[syn: alluvial sediment, alluvial deposit, alluvium, alluvion]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Alluvion \Al*lu"vi*on\, n. [F. alluvion, L. alluvio, fr. alluere
to wash against; ad + luere, equiv. to lavare, to wash. See
Lave.]
1. Wash or flow of water against the shore or bank.
[1913 Webster]
2. An overflowing; an inundation; a flood. --Lyell.
[1913 Webster]
3. Matter deposited by an inundation or the action of flowing
water; alluvium.
[1913 Webster]
The golden alluvions are there [in California and
Australia] spread over a far wider space: they are
found not only on the banks of rivers, and in their
beds, but are scattered over the surface of vast
plains. --R. Cobden.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Law) An accession of land gradually washed to the shore
or bank by the flowing of water. See Accretion.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
alluvion
n 1: gradual formation of new land, by recession of the sea or
deposit of sediment
2: the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto
normally dry land; "plains fertilized by annual inundations"
[syn: flood, inundation, deluge, alluvion]
3: clay or silt or gravel carried by rushing streams and
deposited where the stream slows down [syn: alluvial
sediment, alluvial deposit, alluvium, alluvion]