flow

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englishflowe,from the verb (see below). The psychology sense “state of focus” wascoinedbyMihaly Csikszentmihalyiin 1975.

Noun

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flow(countableanduncountable,pluralflows)

  1. Movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.
  2. The movement of arealorfigurativefluid.
    • 1897December (indicated as1898),Winston Churchill,chapter IV, inThe Celebrity: An Episode,New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company;London:Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,→OCLC:
      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 loudflowof words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
  3. (mathematics)Aformalizationof the idea of themotionofparticlesin afluid,as agroupactionof thereal numberson aset.
    The notion offlowis basic to the study of ordinary differential equations.
  4. The rising movement of thetide.
  5. Smoothnessorcontinuity.
    The room was small, but it had good symmetry andflow.
  6. The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.
    Turn on the valve and make sure you have sufficientflow.
    Other devices measure waterflowin streams fed by melted ice.
  7. A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare withreturnpipe which returns fluid to central plant).
  8. (psychology)A mental state characterized byconcentration,focusand enjoyment of a given task.
    • 2014January 14, Alex Lockwood, “How to achieve a state of flow when running”, inThe Guardian‎[1]:
      The point aboutflowis that it is enjoyable. As research has shown "the more often athletes experiencedflow,the happier they were. "But the second is that enteringflowactually improves performance.
  9. Theemissionofbloodduringmenstruation.
    Tampons can be small or large, slender or thick. From “slender” to “super”, you can pick the size that matches yourflow.
  10. (rapmusicslang)The ability to skilfullyrapalong to abeat.
    The production on his new mixtape is mediocre but hisflowis on point.
    • 2003,“In da Club”,inGet Rich or Die Tryin',performed by50 Cent:
      Now shawty said she feelin' my style, she feelin' myflow[…]/ Myflow,my show brought me the dough / That bought me all my fancy things
  11. (software)The sequence of steps taken in a piece ofsoftwareto perform some action.
    loginflow
    searchflow
    • 2015,Dan, “Best practices for tracking progress through a sign up flow”, insnowplow-usermailing list‎[2]:
      I'm setting up event tracking for a pretty standard, multi-step signupflow,and I'm wondering [...]
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
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Etymology 2

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FromMiddle Englishflowen,fromOld Englishflōwan(“to flow”),fromProto-West Germanic*flōan,fromProto-Germanic*flōaną(“to flow”),fromProto-Indo-European*plōw-,lengthenedo-gradeform of*plew-(“to fly, flow, run”).

Cognate withSaterland Frisianflouje(“to flow”),West Frisianfloeie(“to flow”),Dutchvloeien(“to flow”),Norwegianflo(“to flow”).Compare alsoEnglishfloat.Not cognate withLatinfluōdespite similarity.

Verb

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flow(third-person singular simple presentflows,present participleflowing,simple past and past participleflowed)

  1. (intransitive)To move as afluidfrom one position to another.
    Riversflowfrom springs and lakes.
    Tearsflowfrom the eyes.
  2. (intransitive)Toproceed;toissueforth;to emanate.
    Wealthflowsfrom industry and economy.
    • 1667,John Milton,“Book VII”, inParadise Lost.[…],London:[…][Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…];[a]nd by Robert Boulter[…];[a]nd Matthias Walker,[…],→OCLC;republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books:[…],London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…],1873,→OCLC:
      Those thousand decencies that dailyflow/ 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'tflow.
    • 1697,Virgil,“Dedication”, inJohn Dryden,transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…],London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC:
      Virgil[…]is[…]sweet andflowingin his hexameters.
  4. (intransitive)To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.
  5. (intransitive)To hang loosely and wave.
    aflowingmantle
    flowinglocks
  6. (intransitive)Torise,as thetide;opposed toebb.
    The tideflowstwice in twenty-four hours.
    come in
    come up
  7. (transitive,computing)To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; toreflow.
  8. (transitive)To allow (a liquid) to flow.
    • 1932,Carl Ernest Reistle,Paraffin and Congealing-Oil Problems,volumes340-349,page45:
      The action is usually progressive, and as a certain amount of oil isflowedfrom the tubing it lowers the pressure on the remaining oil and liberates more gas, thus causing additional oil to flow from the tubing.
  9. (transitive)To cover withwateror otherliquid;tooverflow;toinundate;toflood.
  10. (transitive)To cover withvarnish.
  11. (intransitive)Todischargeexcessivebloodfrom theuterus.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3

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Uncertain. Perhaps fromOld Norseflói(“a large bay, firth”),seefloe.CompareScotsflow(“peat-bog, marsh”),Icelandicflói(“marshy ground”).

Noun

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flow(pluralflows)

  1. (Scotland)Abogormire,especially a rough, waterlogged one.
    • 1794,John Sinclair,The Statistical Account of Scotland,volume 10, page 328:
      […]there are other extensive mosses in this district, commonly called flowes, which it is not probable ever will, or ever can be, converted into arable land. Some of theseflowesare found to be 20, 25, or 30 feet deep, and are, besides, such a dead level, that the water has little or no descent; and even supposing they should be cast, or burnt to the bottom, standing pools of dirty water could only stand in their place.
    • 1871,Alexander Boswell,Poetical Works,page213:
      Ye'll stick in someflow,Or, ye'll melt in a thow
    • 1895,Crockett,Moss-Hagspage xlii:
      Had been roughly laid with bog-wood dug from theflowes,
    • 1896,Proudlock,Borderland Muse,page 8:
      Dandering o'er ferney knowes, [...] Springing o'er bogs an'flowes,[...]
    • 1898July 23,Shetland News,quoted in theEDD:
      If dey wirna a day apo' daflowdan he [it] wis nae man's bishaness.
Derived terms
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References

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Anagrams

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French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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flowm(pluralflows)

  1. (rap,music)flow
  2. flow(style)

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowingfromEnglishflow.

Noun

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flowm

  1. (colloquial)flow(the ability torapskillfully)

Spanish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowingfromEnglishflow.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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flowm

  1. (colloquial)flow(the ability torapskillfully)
  2. (colloquial,uncommon)flow(as ingo with the flow)
    ir con elflow―go with theflow
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