Flow , n.
1. A stream
of water or
other fluid; a current; as,
a flow of water; a
flow of blood.
2. A continuous movement of something abundant; as, a flow
of words.
3. Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought, diction, music, or the like,
resembling the quiet, steady movement of a river; a stream.
The feast of reason and
the flow of soul.
Pope. 4. The tidal setting in of
the water from the ocean to the
shore. See Ebb and flow, under Ebb.
5. A low-lying piece of watery land; -- called also flow moss and flow bog. [Scot.]
Jamieson.
Flow , v. t. 1. To
cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
2. To cover with varnish.
Flow (flō), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flowed
(flōd); p. pr. & vb. n. Flowing.]
[AS. flōwan; akin to D.
vloeijen, OHG. flawen to wash, Icel. flōa to deluge, Gr. plw`ein
to float, sail, and prob. ultimately to E. float, fleet. √80. Cf. Flood.] 1. To move with
a continual change of place among the particles or parts, as a fluid; to change place or circulate, as a liquid; as,
rivers flow from springs
and lakes; tears flow from the eyes.
2. To become liquid; to melt.
The mountains flowed down at thy presence.
Is.
lxiv. 3. 3. To proceed; to issue forth; as, wealth flows from industry and economy.
Those thousand decencies that daily flow
From all her
words and actions.
Milton.
4. To glide along smoothly, without harshness or asperties; as, a flowing period; flowing numbers; to sound smoothly to the ear; to be uttered easily.
Virgil is sweet
and flowingin his hexameters.
Dryden. 5. To have or be in abundance; to abound; to
full, so as
to run or flow over; to
be copious.
In that day . . . the hills shall flow with milk.
Joel
iii. 18. The exhilaration of a night that
needed not the influence of the flowing bowl.
Prof. Wilson.
6. To hang loose and waving; as, a
flowing mantle;
flowing locks.
The imperial purple flowing in his train.
A.
Hamilton. 7. To rise, as the tide; -- opposed to ebb; as, the
tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb between.
Shak.
8. To discharge blood in excess from the uterus.
Flow (flō), obs. imp.
sing. of Fly, v. i. Chaucer.
Hear it pronounced