From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
spate
n 1: (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"; "see the
rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must
have cost plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of
money" [syn: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great
deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle,
mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile,
plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew,
spate, stack, tidy sum, wad]
2: a sudden forceful flow [syn: rush, spate, surge,
upsurge]
3: the occurrence of a water flow resulting from sudden rain or
melting snow [syn: freshet, spate]