landslide

n. falling of a mass of earth and rocks; collapse of a hillside; great victory; winning of an election by a large majority

v. fall, slide down (of a mass of dirt and rocks); win an election by a large majority

A landslide is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows. Although gravity's action on an over-steepened slope is the primary reason for a landslide, there are other contributing factors affecting the original slope stability: What qualifies as a landslide? In order to clarify the meaning of the word "landslide", the main points of agreement among various authors in the terminological definitions of landslide events can be summarised as follows:Landslides represent one category of phenomena included under the general heading of mass movements. The term therefore describes a movement of a mass of rocks or soil from a higher point to a lower one. Gravity is the principal force involved. The movement of the masses is due to the action of the force of gravity, but other forces like those due to earthquake or due to water filtration can be involved. Movement must be moderately rapid. Creep that affects the regolith without definition of the sliding surface is therefore a slope movement but is not a landslide.Movements may include falling, sliding and flowing. The first is the movement of masses or blocks in free fall; the second is the movement along more or less well-defined surfaces, the third, is movements of masses in a fluid-plastic or viscous state. The plane or zone of movement is not identical with a fault. A fault can be a part of a sliding surface.Movements should be downwards and outwards with a free face, thus excluding subsidence. Subsidence is a mass movement, in which a mass goes downwards induced by gravity and/or specific water conditions.The displaced material has well-defined boundaries and usually involves only limited portions of the hillside. This shows that a landslide movement always involves a volume of material whose limits can be recognised or approximated and whose determination is at the basis of the identification of the mechanism movements.The displaced material may include parts of the regolithe and/or bedrock. The materials involved can therefore be rocks at various levels of alteration or the product of disgregation phenomena in the past. Frozen ground phenomena are usually excluded. Therefore solifluction due to frozen ground phenomena such as creep, can be classified as slope movement but is not a landslide.On the basis of what is stated above, a complete definition of a landslide event could be the following: "Movement of soil or rock controlled by gravity, superficial or deep, with movement from slow to rapid, but not very slow, which involves materials which make up a mass that is a portion of the slope or the slope itself".
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Noun
1. an overwhelming electoral victory; "Roosevelt defeated Hoover in a landslide"
(hypernym) victory, triumph
2. a slide of a large mass of dirt and rock down a mountain or cliff
(synonym) landslip
(hypernym) slide
(hyponym) mudslide

(n.)
The slipping down of a mass of land from a mountain, hill, etc.
  

(n.)
The land which slips down.
  

Synonyms and related words:
Cadmean victory, KO, Pyrrhic victory, abundance, affluence, ample sufficiency, ampleness, amplitude, ascendancy, avalanche, bonanza, bountifulness, bountiousness, bumper crop, championship, coast, conquest, copiousness, count, deluge, easy victory, election returns, embarras de richesses, enough, extravagance, extravagancy, exuberance, fertility, flood, flow, foison, full measure, fullness, generosity, generousness, glide, glissade, glissando, grand slam, great abundance, great plenty, gush, inundation, knockout, landslide victory, landslip, lavishness, liberality, liberalness, lots, luxuriance, mastery, maximum, money to burn, moral victory, more than enough, much, myriad, myriads, numerousness, official count, opulence, opulency, outpouring, overabundance, overaccumulation, overbounteousness, overcopiousness, overdose, overflow, overlavishness, overluxuriance, overmeasure, overmuchness, overnumerousness, overplentifulness, overplenty, overpopulation, overprofusion, oversufficiency, oversupply, picnic, plenitude, plenteousness, plentifulness, plenty, plethora, poll, prevalence, prodigality, productiveness, profuseness, profusion, pushover, quantities, recount, redundancy, repleteness, repletion, returns, rich harvest, rich vein, richness, riot, riotousness, runaway victory, scads, shower, sideslip, skid, slide, slip, slippage, slither, snowslide, snowslip, spate, stream, subdual, subduing, subsidence, substantiality, substantialness, success, superabundance, superflux, teemingness, tidal wave, total victory, triumph, victory, walkaway, walkover, wealth, win, winning, winning streak