flow

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To move or run smoothly with unbroken continuity, as in the manner characteristic of a fluid.
2. v. To issue in a stream; pour forth: Sap flowed from the gash in the tree.
3. v. To circulate, as the blood in the body.
4. v. To move with a continual shifting of the component particles: wheat flowing into the bin; traffic flowing through the tunnel.
5. v. To proceed steadily and easily: The preparations flowed smoothly.
6. v. To exhibit a smooth or graceful continuity: The poem's cadence flowed gracefully.
7. v. To hang loosely and gracefully: The cape flowed from his shoulders.
8. v. To rise. Used of the tide.
9. v. To arise; derive: Many conclusions flow from this hypothesis.
10. v. To abound or teem: coffers flowing with treasure.
11. v. To stream copiously; flood: Contributions flowed in from all parts of the country.
12. v. To menstruate.
13. v. To undergo plastic deformation without cracking or breaking. Used of rocks, metals, or minerals.
14. v. To release as a flow: trees flowing thin sap.
15. v. To cause to flow: "One of the real keys to success is developing a system where you can flow traffic to yourselves” ( Marc Klee).
16. n. The act of flowing.
17. n. The smooth motion characteristic of fluids.
18. n. A stream or current.
19. n. A flood or overflow.
20. n. A residual mass that has stopped flowing: a hardened lava flow.
21. n. A continuous output or outpouring: a flow of ideas; produced a steady flow of stories.
22. n. A continuous movement or circulation: the flow of traffic; a flow of paperwork across his desk.
23. n. The amount that flows in a given period of time.
24. n. The rising of the tide.
25. n. Continuity and smoothness of appearance.
26. n. A general movement or tendency: a dissenter who went against the flow of opinion.
27. n. The sequence in which operations are performed.
28. n. An apparent ease or effortlessness of performance: "An athlete must learn to forget the details of his or her training to achieve the instinctive sense of flow that characterizes a champion” ( Frederick Turner).
29. n. Menstrual discharge.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To move along, as water or other fluid, in a continuous succession or stream, by the force either of gravity or of impulse upon individual particles or parts; move in a current; stream; run: as, the river flows northward; venous blood flows from the extremities to the heart; the crowd flowed in a steady stream toward the point of attraction.
2. Hence To proceed; issue; well forth: as, wealth flows from industry and economy.
3. To abound; have or be in abundance; be full: as, flowing cups or goblets.
4. To glide smoothly, without harshness or dissonance: as, a flowing period; flowing numbers.
5. To hang loose and waving: as, flowing skirts; flowing locks.
6. To rise, as the tide: opposed to ebb: as, the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours.
7. To discharge blood, as in the catamenia or after childbirth.
8. In ceramics, to work or blend freely: said of a glaze.
9. To cover with water; overflow; inundate: as, the low grounds along the river aro annually flowed.
10. To carry down in a current: said of water in a river.
11. To cover with any liquid, as varnish or glaze, by causing it to flow over the surface.
12. In founding, to permit (the molten metal) to flow through the mold long enough to carry off all air and foreign matter, in order to insure a casting free from bubbles and similar defects; run through.
13. n. The act or state of flowing; a continuous passing or transmission, as of water or other fluid; movement in or as if in a current or stream: as, a flow of blood, oil, lava, or magnetism; the volume of flow in a river.
14. n. That which flows, or results from flowing; a mass of matter moving or that has moved in a stream: as, to walk over a lava-flow.
15. n. The rise of the tide: as, the daily ebb and flow.
16. n. Any strong progressive movement, as of thought, language, trade, etc., comparable to the flow of a river; stream; current: as, a flow of eloquence; the flow of commodities toward a commercial center.
17. n. Figuratively, abundant influx or efflux; copiousness in emission, communication, or reception.
18. n. In mech., the volume of fluid which flows through a passage of any given section in a unit of time.
19. n. In ceramics, the flux used to cause color to run and blend in firing.
20. n. That part of an inclosed space, as a reservoir, along and from which a contained liquid is flowing.
21. n. A marshy moor; a morass; a low-lying piece of watery land.
22. n. A form of obsolete preterit and past participle (flowen) of fly.
23. Cold; windy; boisterous; bleak: as, flow weather.
24. In the differential calculus, to enlarge (or diminish) continuously, that is, by infinitesimal increments (+ or —).
25. n. A quicksand.

Wiktionary

1. n. The movement of a fluid.
2. n. The rising movement of the tide.
3. n. Smoothness or continuity.
4. n. The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.
5. n. psychology The state of being at one with.
6. v. intransitive To move as a fluid from one position to another.
7. v. intransitive To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. imp. sing. of fly, v. i.
2. v. To move with a continual change of place among the particles or parts, as a fluid; to change place or circulate, as a liquid
3. v. To become liquid; to melt.
4. v. To proceed; to issue forth.
5. v. To glide along smoothly, without harshness or asperties; ; to sound smoothly to the ear; to be uttered easily.
6. v. To have or be in abundance; to abound; to full, so as to run or flow over; to be copious.
7. v. To hang loose and waving
8. v. To rise, as the tide; -- opposed to ebb.
9. v. To discharge blood in excess from the uterus.
10. v. To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
11. v. To cover with varnish.
12. n. A stream of water or other fluid; a current
13. n. A continuous movement of something abundant.
14. n. Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought, diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady movement of a river; a stream.
15. n. The tidal setting in of the water from the ocean to the shore. See Ebb and flow, under Ebb.
16. n. Scot. A low-lying piece of watery land; -- called also flow moss and flow bog.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. cause to flow
2. n. the act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression
3. n. any uninterrupted stream or discharge
4. n. the amount of fluid that flows in a given time
5. n. dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas
6. v. fall or flow in a certain way
7. v. undergo menstruation
8. n. the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases)
9. n. the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause
10. v. move along, of liquids
11. v. be abundantly present
12. n. something that resembles a flowing stream in moving continuously
13. v. move or progress freely as if in a stream
14. v. cover or swamp with water