This verb describes overwhelming submersion under water, used both literally for physical floods and metaphorically for being overwhelmed by circumstances. Second Peter 3:6 employs it for the cosmic deluge that destroyed the ancient world in Noah's day. Classical usage shows both the literal sense (waves washing away sand) and metaphorical extension (being deluged with troubles). The passive participle in 2 Peter emphasizes that the world 'was flooded'—suffered catastrophic inundation. The multilingual witnesses preserve this aquatic destruction imagery across languages.