flow

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English flowen, from Old English flōwan (“to flow”), from Proto-Germanic *flōaną (“to flow”), from Proto-Indo-European *plōw-, lengthened o-grade form of *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

flow (countable and uncountable, plural flows)

  1. A movement in people or things with a particular way in large numbers or amounts
  2. The movement of a real or figurative fluid.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
  3. (mathematics) A formalization of the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid, as a group action of the real numbers on a set.
    The notion of flow is basic to the study of ordinary differential equations.
  4. The rising movement of the tide.
  5. Smoothness or continuity.
    The room was small, but it had good symmetry and flow.
  6. The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.
    Turn on the valve and make sure you have sufficient flow.
    Other devices measure water flow in streams fed by melted ice.
  7. (psychology) A mental state characterized by concentration, focus and enjoyment of a given task.
  8. The emission of blood during menstruation.
    Tampons can be small or large, slender or thick. From “slender” to “super”, you can pick the size that matches your flow.
  9. (Scotland) A morass or marsh.
  10. (rap music slang) The ability to skilfully rap along to a beat.
    The production on his new mixtape is mediocre but his flow is on point.

Antonyms[edit]

  • (movement of the tide): ebb

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading[edit]

Verb[edit]

flow (third-person singular simple present flows, present participle flowing, simple past and past participle flowed)

  1. (intransitive) To move as a fluid from one position to another.
    Rivers flow from springs and lakes.
    Tears flow from the eyes.
  2. (intransitive) To proceed; to issue forth.
    Wealth flows from industry and economy.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
      Those thousand decencies that daily flow / From all her words and actions.
  3. (intransitive) To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.
    The writing is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
      Virgil is sweet and flowing in his hexameters.
  4. (intransitive) To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Bible, Joel iii. 18
      In that day […] the hills shall flow with milk.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Prof. Wilson
      the exhilaration of a night that needed not the influence of the flowing bowl
  5. (intransitive) To hang loosely and wave.
    a flowing mantle; flowing locks
    • (Can we date this quote?) A. Hamilton
      the imperial purple flowing in his train
  6. (intransitive) To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.
    The tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
  7. (transitive, computing) To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.
  8. (transitive) To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
  9. (transitive) To cover with varnish.
  10. (intransitive) To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

to flow — see run
to flow — see stream
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Anagrams[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Noun[edit]

flow m (plural flows)

  1. flow
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