English
flow
Pronunciation
    • (RP) IPA: /fləʊ/
    • (America) IPA: /floʊ/
Noun

flow

  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.
  3. (math) 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. A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare with return pipe which returns fluid to central plant).
  8. (psychology) A mental state characterized by concentration, focus and enjoyment of a given task.
  9. 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.
  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.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • German: Tätigkeitsrausch
  • Russian: вовлечённость
Verb

flow (flows, present participle flowing; 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.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book 7”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:
      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.
    • 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.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Joel 3:18 ↗:
      In that day […] the hills shall flow with milk.
    • 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
    • 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.
    • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:
      The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb between.
  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.
Translations Translations Translations Noun

flow (plural flows)

  1. (Scotland) A morass or marsh.


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