/'ævəlɑ:nʃ; [US] -læntʃ; `ævl,æntʃ/
n mass of snow, ice and rock that slides rapidly down the side of a mountain 雪崩; 山崩
*Yesterday's avalanche killed a party of skiers and destroyed several trees. 昨天的雪崩造成一批滑雪者死亡, 并毁坏了一些树木.
* (fig 比喻) We received an avalanche of letters in reply to our advertisement. 广告登出後, 我们收到雪片般涌来的大批信件.

n[C]
[Date: 1700-1800; Language: French;Origin:French dialect lavantse, avalantse]
a large mass of snow, ice, and rocks that falls down the side of a mountain
　Two skiers were killed in the avalanche.
an avalanche of sth
a very large number of things such as letters, messages etc that arrive suddenly at the same time
　The school received an avalanche of applications.