| 释义 |
▪ I. flow, n.1|fləʊ|
[f. flow v.]
1. a. The action or fact of flowing; movement in a current or stream; an instance or mode of this. Orig. said of liquids, but extended in modern use to all fluids, as air, electricity, etc. † Phrase: to set (the eyes) at flow: to (cause to) weep. Also ‘The course or direction of running waters’ (Admiral Smyth).
a1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 43 Thei xul not drede the flodys fflowe. 1607Shakes. Timon ii. ii. 172 I haue..set mine eyes at flow. 1613― Hen. VIII i. i. 152 This top proud fellow, Whom from the flow of gall I name not. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam xii. xxxvii. 5 In the flow Of sudden tears. 1856Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 290 A gentle sound..like the flow of a brook. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xxv. 362 The gentle flow of a current of air. 1885Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 208 A flow of positive electricity in the one direction along the wire.
b. Physics.
line of flow in Hydrodynamics, an imaginary curve so drawn within a liquid at any instant that at each point of the curve the instantaneous velocity of the liquid is along the tangent. In general a line of flow is not the path of a particle, but varies with the time. But when the motion is steady, i.e. not a function of the time, the lines of flow are fixed, and are paths of particles, being then called stream-lines. tube of flow in Electricity and Hydrodynamics, an imaginary tube bounded by surfaces across which there is no flow.
1881Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 378 Tube of Flow. 1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 150 We can in this way map out the whole region by drawing lines of flow.
c. The quantity that flows, volume of fluid. In Hydrodynamics, the volume of fluid which flows through a tube of any given section in a unit of time.
1807Med. Jrnl. XXI. 378 Blood, which came out, with a jet, nearly equal to the flow of urine. 1851Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 218 The flow of blood into them [Muscles] increases with the use that is made of them. 1877W. H. Besant Hydromech. (ed. 3) 238 The line-integral of the tangential velocity along any line, lying entirely within the fluid, is called the flow along that line.
d. concr. That which flows; flowing water. Also, a mass of matter that moves or has moved in a stream.
1802Campbell Hohenlinden i, Dark as winter was the flow Of Iser, rolling rapidly. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague i. i, The sunshine dances in its joy O'er the still flow of this majestic river. 1833Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 240 Reiterated flows of lava. 1880I. L. Bird Japan II. 152 The flows from the flank and summit craters of the Mauna Loa.
e. A gradual deformation of a solid (as rock or a metal) under stress in which it suffers a permanent change in shape without fracture or loss of cohesion between its parts.
1889Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. No. 55. 68 The elaborate and exhaustive series of experiments made by Henri Tresca on ‘the Flow of Solids’. 1897Geol. Mag. Nov. 513 Some Experiments on the Flow of Rocks. Ibid. 514 The conditions of pressure to which the marble is subjected are those in the ‘zone of flow’ of the earth's crust. 1932F. F. Grout Petrography vii. 402 The visible deformation of rocks near the surface of the earth is mostly by fracturing and only in very weak rocks, such as clays, by flow. 1959A. G. Guy Elem. Physical Metall. (ed. 2) ix. 322 We might expect plastic flow to begin when the maximum shear stress reaches a certain value. 1965A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. (ed. 2) viii. 170 Slate is thus an example of a rock on which a new ‘grain’ has been impressed—partly by the mechanical effects of flow, partly by the growth of new minerals which have similarly accommodated themselves to the direction of flow. 1971M. J. Manjoine in H. Liebowitz Fracture III. iv. 275 In polycrystalline materials, the initiation and propagation of fracture are usually preceded or accompanied by plastic flow, even though this flow may be small.
2. Of dress, outlines, etc.: The manner of flowing.
1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxi, No dress but hers had such a flow as that. 1851Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. App. 393 In the folds of the drapery..is a flow like that of waves.
3. a. transf. and fig. Any continuous movement resembling the even flow of a river and connoting a copious supply; an outpouring or stream; esp. of speech.
1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 201 Without any flow of words to greaten it. 1733Pope Hor. Sat. ii. i. 128 The Feast of Reason and the Flow of Soul. 1775Pratt Liberal Opin. (1783) I. 3 It is..hard to stop the pen, when the ideas are on the flow. 1782T. A. Mann in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 420 The rupture with France..has thrown..a flow of Commerce into this Country. 1790Cowper On my Mother's Picture 65 Thy constant flow of love, that knew no fall. 1796Jane Austen Pride & Prej. xxxi, They conversed with so much spirit and flow as to draw the attention of Lady Catherine. 1812Chalmers Let. in Life (1851) I. 296 We have had a flow of forenoon callers. 1832H. Martineau Hill & Valley iv. 50 This vast flow of capital towards one point. 1873Black Pr. Thule (1874) 22 This flow of talk. 1891Pall Mall G. 18 Nov. 2/1 The cross flows of traffic.
b. = honey-flow.
1951E. Crane Dict. Beekeeping Terms 22 Main flow. Miellée principale. Haupttracht. 1952H. Mace Beekeeper's Man. xvi. 87 In summers of continued drought, clover is soon over on light soil and the flow may not continue more than two or three weeks. 1953R. Graves Poems 21 In the red West, Where bees come thronging to the apple flow.
4. The incoming or rise of the tide. Opposed to ebb; often in phrase ebb and flow; see ebb n.1
1583Greene Mamillia Wks. (Grosart) II. 39 The greatest flowe hath the soonest ebbe. 1597Daniel Civ. Wars Wks. (1717) II. 41 The Ocean all at Discord with his Bounds, Reiterates his strange untimely Flows. 1618Bolton Florus ii. viii. (1636) 118 A..sea having many ebbs & flowes. 1794Burns Song, ‘Let not woman’ iii, Ocean's ebb, and ocean's flow. 1812Southey Omniana I. 139 The flow drove him upon shore. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. vi. 177 The Thames tide, with its tossing wherries at the flow, and stranded barges at ebb.
fig.1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 43. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. xi. 16 We know not in the flows of our contentedness, what we ourselves are. 1758S. Haward Serm. Introd. 9 The flows of affliction. 1865Farrar Chapters on Lang. 270 Great ebbs and flows in the tide of Jewish thought. 1870[see ebb n. 2.]
5.
†a. A deluge, flood (obs.).
b. An overflowing; applied esp. to the periodical overflow of the Nile, or similar phenomena.
a1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 345, I am Abraham..That reyned after Noes flowe. 1571Campion Hist. Irel. ii. x. (1633) 138 A flowe will shake your building. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. vii. 20 They take the flow o' th' Nyle By certain scales i' th' Pyramid. 1725Pope Odyss. iv. 100 Regions fatten'd with the flows of Nile. 1852Earp Gold Col. Australia 48 The natives look to this periodical flow with as much anxiety as the Egyptians to that of the Nile.
6. flow of spirits:
a. in early use, a sudden access of cheerfulness or exhilaration;
b. now chiefly (cf. sense 3) a habitual state of spontaneous cheerfulness.
1715–6Pope Let. to Blount Wks. 1824 VIII. 359 As an unblemished conscience and inflexible resolution are above an accidental flow of spirits, or a sudden tide of blood. 1775Sheridan Duenna ii. ii, My joy..has given me such a flow of spirits. 18..Scott Let., No creature can be entitled to reckon upon such a flow of spirits and regular continuation of good health. 1834West Ind. Sketch-bk. i. 252 A remarkable flow of animal spirits and activity.
7. Porcelain Manufacture. A flux for causing the colours to ‘flow’ or blend in firing.
1878Jewitt Ceramic Art II. viii. 380 This effect was afterwards imitated..by means of what is technically called a ‘flow’—that is, by introducing a little volatilising salt in the saggar in which the ware is placed and fired.
†8. A flowing or full-bottomed wig. Obs.
1755Connoisseur No. 77 ⁋5 Young counsellers..in a smart tye between a bob and a flow, contrived to cover a toupee. 1756Ibid. No. 110 ⁋2 In Queen Anne's reign..the nobility..wore large flaxen flows of thirty guineas price.
9. attrib. and Comb., as flow pattern, flow-rate; flow-blue, a blue colour applied to pottery or porcelain which diffuses readily through the glaze; flow chart, a diagram showing the movement of goods, materials, or personnel in any complex system of activities (as an industrial plant) and the sequence of operations they perform or processes they undergo; also, a diagram in which conventional symbols show the sequence of actual or possible operations and decisions in a data-processing system or computer program, esp. one that is more detailed than a block diagram; hence flow(-)charting vbl. n.; flow diagram = flow chart; flow-dike, an open channel to carry off surface water; flow-function = velocity-function; flow (-off) -gate (Metallurgy), an opening through which the molten metal is run out of the mould; flow-line, (a) = line of flow (sense 1 b); (b) pl. [cf. F. lignes d'écoulement], the lines that appear on the surface of wrought metal when it is polished and etched, indicating the directions of flow and elongation of the metal during working; (c) (also flowline), any of the interrelated routes followed by goods, materials, etc., in passing through the various stages of manufacture or treatment; a route depicted on a flow chart; flow(-line) production, the continual passage of goods from one machine or piece of equipment to another in the successive stages of production; flow-meadow, one that may be flooded at will; flow-meter, an instrument for measuring rate of flow (of gas, liquid fuel, etc.); flow-pipe, the pipe by which hot water leaves the boiler in a system of heating (see also quot. 1967); flow-sheet, flowsheet = flow chart; hence flow-sheeting vbl. n.; flow-structure Geol., the structure in igneous rock produced by the flow of the molten mass before solidification.
1961Webster, *Flow-blue. 1962K. Shaw Ceramic Colours iv. 42 Flow Blues depend for their formation on the volatilisation of chlorides which combine with the cobalt compound of the underglaze colour..during the glost firing. 1967J. P. Cushion Eng. China Coll. ii. 71 The early prints tend to be of a rather dark and blurred blue, rather aptly named by the American collectors as ‘flow-blue’. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 37/4 (Advt.), Primitive scales, andirons, some flow blue china, glass.
1920C. E. Knoeppel Graphic Production Control xii. 136 What should be considered in making up these *flow charts are [etc.]. 1949G. R. Terry Office Managem. xxviii. 637 The two types of procedure flow charts are paper distribution and paper correlation. 1966Digital Computer Needs 156/2 A program..usually includes the preparation of a flow chart showing, diagrammatically, the desired sequence of discriminations and actions. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 242/2 (caption) Flow chart showing scope of automation required in the treatment of a patient in a radiotherapy department.
1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting i. 27 The technique of *flow charting is especially useful for pointing out improbable or unusual exceptions which have been omitted from the programme.
1943Industr. & Engin. Chem. July 769/2 A simplified *flow diagram illustrating the first commercial design of a Fluid Catalyst cracking plant. 1947Goldstine & Von Neumann Planning & Coding of Problems for Electronic Computing Instrument vii. 3 We therefore propose to begin the planning of a coded sequence by laying out a schematic of the course of C [control] through that sequence... This schematic is the flow diagram of C. 1949D. R. Hartree Calculating Instruments & Machines viii. 112 A method of indicating the structure of the sequence of operating instructions by means of a ‘flow diagram’ representing the control sequence. 1960R. M. Currie Work Study 60 The flow diagram is a drawing, substantially to scale, of the working area, showing the location of the various activities identified by their numbered symbols. 1963Times Rev. Industry May 83/1 A flow diagram..sets out every step of the calculation telling the computer exactly what to do wherever an alternative course presents itself.
1812Souter Agric. Surv. Banff. App. 31 To construct *flow dikes.
1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 176 Is it possible to determine a velocity-potential function (or a *flow-function) of the form [etc.]?
1881Wylie Iron Founding 64 A violent bubbling takes place in the *flow-gates. 1889Pract. Iron Founding iv. 57 In moulds of considerable area, risers or flow off gates are employed.
1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 248 The *flow-lines will then be lines of electro⁓static induction in the surrounding dielectric. 1912P. A. Amos Processes Flour Manuf. xxi. 171 Care in ‘block-spacing’..before filling in the flow lines of the stock will keep the figures clear. 1913G. H. Gulliver Metallic Alloys (ed. 2) vii. 231 When the section is vigorously etched..the surface shows alternate dark and light striations called flow-lines. 1950Engineering 3 Nov. 334/1 Flow-line production is a particular aspect of mass production. 1956W. D. Hargreaves in D. L. Linton Sheffield 294 An entirely new plant..provides for the continuous flow-line production of railway axles. 1959B. Chalmers Physical Metallurgy vii. 348 The strings of inclusions delineate the ‘flow lines’ of a forging, and indicate the directions and regions of weakness. 1960Times Rev. Industry Apr. 48/1 A simultaneous attack on building layout, handling, flow lines, placing of equipment, and actual methods of construction is rarely carried out.
1834Brit. Husb. I. 528 *Flow-meadows [called also flowing-meadows].
1920Flight XII. 353/1 A petrol *flowmeter should be fitted so that the engineer can see at a glance his fuel consumption. 1925Odell in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest, 1924 362 The..flow-meter..was connected up with the rubber tubing conveying the gas from the cylinders to the mouthpiece. 1952Electronic Engin. XXIV. 162 The flowmeter to be described was designed for continuously recording the rate of flow of blood to the lungs of an animal.
1950Sci. News XV. 141 Plate 13 shows a typical photograph of the *flow pattern in one of the planes of the model side-blown converter, showing particularly the flow of ‘gases’ above the ‘steel’ surface. 1955Times 13 June 9/6 ‘Flow patterns’ can be quickly calculated of air movements over the whole of north-western Europe, for interpreting millions of varied and detailed reports of meteorological observations from all over the Northern Hemisphere.
1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 229/2 Flow or *flow pipe, the pipe by which water leaves a boiler. 1967Gloss. Sanitation Terms (B.S.I.) 34 Flow pipe, a pipe in a primary hot water circuit in which water moves away from the boiler, or a pipe in a secondary hot water circuit in which water moves away from the hot-water storage vessel.
1937Times 13 Apr. p. xii/2 The layout of the Wolseley factory has been scientifically planned in accordance with modern *flow production methods. 1955Ibid. 22 June 7/5 The common aim is to achieve in the building of ships a rhythm corresponding to the ‘flow production’ of, say, a motor-car factory.
1960Ibid. 2 Dec. 17/2 Any significant leak leads to a reduction in *flow-rate at the place of the leak. 1962Lancet 27 Jan. 182/2 The peak expiratory flow-rate was measured with a Wright's peak flow-meter.
1912P. A. Amos Processes Flour Manuf. xxi. 171 ‘*Flow-sheets’, or diagrams, illustrating the course through which any material travels whilst undergoing treatment in manufacture. 1932Auden Orators i. 22 Designs for the flow sheet of a mill. 1963Times Rev. Industry May 83/2 He can..put the flowsheet information into machine code which entails a detailed time-consuming reproduction of the problem in computer language.
1964M. Gowing Britain & Atomic Energy xii. 336 This involved much basic design work and *flowsheeting.
1890*Flow-structure [see fluxion-structure]. 1893Flow-structure [see fluidal a.]. 1903Athenæum 11 July 65/2 A flow-structure has been developed in the matrix. 1968R. A. Lyttleton Myst. Solar Syst. vi. 187 The solidified flow-structure within the tektite.
▪ II. flow, n.2|fləʊ|
Also 9 flo(w)e.
[? a. ON. *flówe (Icel. flói) of same meaning, related to flóa flow v.]
1. ‘A watery moss, a morass’ (Jam.).
16..in Symson Descr. Galloway (1823) App. iv. 140 Moss Raploch, a great flow on the other side of Die. 1773Walker in Phil. Trans. LXII. 124 The Solway flow contains 1300 acres of very deep and tender moss. 1835‘S. Oliver’ Rambles Northumb. 164 Dreading every instant that he will sink over head into the flow. 1852Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIII. ii. 290 Dangerous ‘flowes’, or shaking bogs. 1895Crockett Moss-hags xxxiii. Bog-wood dug from the flowes.
b. (See quots.)
1808–80Jamieson s.v., The term flow is applied to a low-lying piece of watery land rough and benty, which has not been broken up. 1886G. A. Lebour Geol. Northumb. & Durh. 11 That part of it which thus dips away from the bog proper is aptly called the ‘flow’ of the bog.
2. A quicksand.
1818Scott Br. Lamm. xvii, He shall stable his steed in the Kelpie's flow. 1882Stevenson New Arab. Nts. (1884) 210 The wind was driving the hat shoreward, and I ran round the border of the floe.
3. attrib.
1831Loudon Agric. (ed. 2) 1243 *Flow-bog or flow moss, a peat bog, the surface of which is liable to rise and fall with every increase or diminution of water.
c1565Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 130 He..ran his Horse into a *Flow-Moss. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxviii, ‘There wasna muckle flowmoss in the shaw.’
▪ III. flow, n.3 Sc.|fləʊ|
[Of obscure origin; perh. f. root of flaw n. or fly v.1]
‘A jot, a particle, a small portion of any thing’ (Jam.).
1804W. Tarras Poems 45 Wha on life's dainties nicely chow Yet left yir bard wi' fient a flowe. 1827Tennant Papistry Storm'd 69 Powther'd gay Wi' flows o' flour. 1840Webster in Whistlebinkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. ii. (1890) I. 220 Tak hame a wee flow to your wife To help to be brose to your supper.
▪ IV. flow, v.|fləʊ|
pa. tense and pa. pple. flowed |fləʊd|. Forms: inf. 1 flówan, 3 flohen, 3–5 flowen, (3 flouwen), Orm. flowenn, south. vlowen, 4 floȝe, flowyn, 5–7 flowe, 5– flow. pa. tense 1 fléow, pl. fleowon, 3 fleaw, flew, south. vleau; weak forms: 3 fléowede, Orm. flowedd, 4 floȝed, flowede, 6 flowd, 6– flowed. pa. pple. 1 flówen, 4–7 flowen, 7–8 flown; 6– flowed.
[OE. flówan, a redupl. str. vb. occurring as such only in Eng. From the same root *flô- are the wk. vbs. ON. flóa to flood, Du. vloeijen (= LG. flojen) to flow, and the Com. Teut. *flôđu-s flood n. The wk. pa. tense and pa. pple. appear in early ME.; the original str. pa. tense appears not to have survived into the 14th c., but the str. pa. pple., though rare after 15th c., occurs down to the 18th c. (and still later as an archaism or a blunder, esp. in the compound overflown).
The Teut. *flô-:—pre-Teut. *plō- in Gr. πλώειν, to swim, float, πλωτός floating, navigable, L. plōrāre to weep. According to some scholars this is an ablaut-variant of *plē- to fill, be full (cf. Gr. πληθύς fullness, L. plēnus full), perh. an extended form of *pel-: see full a. Others regard. *plō- as standing for *plōu- lengthened grade of the root *pleu-, plou-, plu- (Teut. *fleu-, flau-, flu-), whence Skr. plu to swim, bathe, Gr. πλέειν to sail, πλύνειν to wash, L. pluit it rains, OHG. flewen, flawen (MHG. vlöuwen, vlæen) to rinse, ON, flaumr stream.
The sense-development of the vb. in Eng. shows traces of influence from the like-sounding but etymologically unconnected L. fluĕre, of which it is the usual translation.]
I. To glide along as a stream.
1. a. intr. Of fluids, a stream, etc.: To move on a gently inclined surface with a continual change of place among the particles or parts; to move along in a current; to stream, run; to spread over (a surface). Also with along, down, on, out.
a1000Sal. & Sat. 321 (Gr.) Siððan flowan mot yð ofer eal lond. c1200Ormin 14567 & ta wass waterr wid & sid All oferr erþe flowedd. a1250Owl & Night. 918 An ydel wel, That..flohþ on idel thar a-dune. c1325Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Camden) 347 The thridde day shal flowe a flod that al this world shal hylen. a1400–50Alexander 2053 For bale to Blissh on blod þat on þe bent flowes. 1554in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xxiv. 67 Yf the water in Egypt called Nilus dyd not accustomably flow over Egypt. 1667Milton P.L. i. 11 Siloa's Brook that flow'd Fast by the Oracle of God. 1704Pope Winter 13 Thames heard the numbers as he flow'd along. 1793Burns Song, Wandering Willie ii, O still flow between us, thou wide roaring main. 1854Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. I. 363 The acid..is allowed to flow consecutively into the lower vessels. 1859Gullick & Timbs Paint. 204 To admit of being discharged freely from the brush without flowing or spreading on the canvas.
b. Opposed to ‘stand’. See flowing ppl. a.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 37 With Osier Floats the standing Water strow; Of massy stones make Bridges, if it flow.
c. Of the blood or other animal fluids: To pass along the vessels of the body; to circulate.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iii. 52 Lord Angelo..scarce confesses That his blood flowes. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. ii, Trade, which like blood should circularly flow, Stopped in their channels. 1786Burns Song, My Highland Lassie O iii, While my crimson currents flow, I'll love my Highland lassie. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam vii. xxi. 5 Our pulses [would] calmly flow and beat In response while we slept. 1845Budd Dis. Liver 276 Gall-stones are formed in numbers in the gall-bladder, only when the bile can flow into it through the cystic duct.
d. With advbs. to flow over = to overflow.
1526Tindale 2 Cor. viii. 2 And howe that their povertie, though yt be depe, yet hath folowed [sic] over. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 24 My Lord Who is so full of Grace, that it flowes ouer On all that neede.
e. quasi-trans. Of a river: To carry down (water) in its current.
1885Century Mag. Sept. 747 It [a river] was flowing muddy water at the time.
†2.
a. To become liquid; to stream down, melt; lit. and fig. Obs.
c825Vesp. Psalter lxvii[i]. 3 Swe floweð wex from onsiene fyres. a1225Ancr. R. 110 His moderes wop & þe oðres Maries, þæt fleoweden & melten al of teares. 1382Wyclif Isa. lxiv. 1 Fro thi face hillis shulden flowe doun. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. v in Ashm. (1652) 59 For nothinge maie be more contrary nowe Than to be fixt and unperfectly flowe. 1641French Distill. iv. (1651) 105 This Oil of Tartar must bee made of salt of Tartar after it hath flowed in the fire. 1737Pope Hor. Epist. ii. i. 148 Yielding Metal flow'd to human form.
†b. fig. To be unsteady, waver. Obs.
1434Misyn Mending Life 112 Se þat þou flow nott with vayn þoghtis. 1500–20Dunbar Poems vi. 47 My hert that neuir wes sic[k]ir..That never mair wald flow nor flickir.
c. Ceram. To work or blend freely: said of a glaze. (Cent. Dict.)
d. Of a solid: to suffer a permanent (i.e. non-elastic) change in shape under stress without fracturing or rupturing.
1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 595/2 When the stress is sufficiently increased..the substance then assumes what may be called a completely plastic state; it flows under the applied stress like a viscous liquid. 1888Flowing metal [see flowing ppl. a. 1]. 1894–5Van Hise in 16th Ann. Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. i. 594 Whether rocks flow or fracture is in many cases largely dependent on the rapidity of deformation. 1897Geol. Mag. Nov. 514 The experiments therefore show that limestone..does possess a certain degree of plasticity, and can be made to ‘flow’. 1901Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CXCV. 398 Many limestones under pressure in the earth's crust flow precisely as metals do. 1914Ries & Watson Engin. Geol. iii. 192 When subjected to stresses of sufficient intensity, rocks are deformed either by fracturing or by flowing. 1932F. F. Grout Petrography vii. 402 At moderate and great depths in the crust, competent rocks yield elastically up to the elastic limit and then fracture; and weaker ones recrystallize and flow. 1971M. J. Manjoine in H. Liebowitz Fracture III. iv. 278 In this region, the material can flow more rapidly at a lower stress.
3. a. Of persons or animals: To come or go ‘in a stream or streams.’ Also with in, together.
1382Wyclif Jer. xxxi. 12 Thei shul..togidere flowen to the goodus of the Lord [1388 and thei schulen flowe togidere to the goodis of the Lord]. 1611Bible Jer. li. 44 The nations shall not flow together any more vnto him. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage ii. x. (1614) 160 Thence they [Iewes] flowed into other parts. 1742Pope Dunc. iv. 275 In flow'd at once a gay embroider'd race. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam v. xli. 2 To hear the restless multitudes..Around the base of that great Altar flow. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 166 Men flowed in so plentifully that [etc.]. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xix, He..confined himself to riding..round the cattle on the camp, preventing them from flowing out in unnecessary directions.
b. Of things material and immaterial: To move, pass as a stream. Also with away, down, in, together.
1382Wyclif Ecclus. li. 9 For the deth flowende doun I louly preȝede. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 137 Thus the victory flowed some tyme on the one parte, and sometyme on the other. 1560Bible (Genev.) Job xx. 28 The increase of his house shall go away; it shall flow away in the day of his wrath. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 435 The euils of the precedent ages are flowne together into this. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 173 The Treasure of the Common-wealth, flowing out of its due course. 1717Pope Elegy Unfort. Lady 25 As into air the purer spirits flow. 1780Coxe Russ. Disc. 188 The final success which flowed in upon him. 1816Shelley Alastor 533 As fast years flow away. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. vii. 141 Gold flowed in. 1878Jewitt Ceramic Art. II. viii. 350 Orders for the new kind of ware flowed in upon him.
4. Of composition or speech; in early use of a speaker or writer: To glide along smoothly, like a river.
1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 59 The first lyne flowis weil, and the vther nathing at all. 1643Denham Cooper's H. 189 Could I flow like thee [Thames], and make thy streame My great example. 1737Pope Hor. Epist. ii. i. 266 Wit grew polite, and Numbers learn'd to flow. 1859Kingsley Misc. (1860) I. 227 The most unmetrical..passages flow with a grace, a lightness [etc.]. 1870E. Peacock Ralf. Skirl. III. 252 Conversation flowed freely.
5. Of a garment, hair, etc.: To ‘stream’; to hang loose and waving; to lie in undulating curves. Also † of a person: to flow with (hair).
1606B. Jonson Hymenæi Wks. (Rtldg.) 558 From the top of which [coronet] flow'd a transparent veile. 1608― Masque Beauty Splendour Wks. (Rtldg.) 549/1 Her bright hayre loose flowing. 1648Herrick Hesper. 29 A Cuffe neglectfull, and thereby Ribbands to flow confusedly. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 241 Over his lucid Armes A militarie Vest of purple flowd. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 146 Grim Saturn..flow'd with such a Mane. 1712Congreve Ovid's Art Love iii. 376 Swell'd with the wanton wind, they [her coats] loosely flow. 1782Cowper Gilpin xlvi, A wig that flowed behind. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xvi, Mark the gaudy streamers flow From their loud chanters down. a1881Rossetti House of Life vii, Across my breast the abandoned hair doth flow.
6. Math. To increase or diminish continuously by infinitesimal quantities: to ‘vary’ (in the Newtonian Calculus). See fluent.
1715Phil. Trans. XXIX. 204 When the Letter x is put for a Quantity which flows uniformly, the symbol χ. is an Unit. 1758I. Lyons Fluxions 4, x flows from x–½ χ to x + ½ χ. 1828Hutton Course Math. II. 304 To obtain the second fluxion it will suffice to make xn–1 flow.
†7. trans. (causatively).
a. To make to flow, set flowing in, out.
b. To make fluid. Obs.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. i. 74 God must nedes contynuelly flowen oute his bounte. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 79 Liquors helpeth to flux and to flowe Manie things. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 21 The Church is..verie wel compared vnto the sea, which floweth out waues from euery porch or entrie. 1635R. Brathwait Arcad. Pr. ii. (1635) 175, I plenteously flowed in my afternoone's potation.
c. In Founding, to permit (the molten metal) to flow through the mould long enough to carry off all air and foreigh matter, in order to insure a casting free from bubbles and similar defects; to run through. (Cent. Dict.)
d. Naut. (See quot.)
1883W. C. Russell Sailor's Lang., Flow, to let go the sheet of a head-sail.
II. To stream forth, issue in a stream.
8. a. To gush out, well forth, spring. Also with down, forth, out, over.
c825Vesp. Psalter lxxvii[i]. 20 Forðon sloᵹ stan & fleowun weter. c1000Ags. Gosp. John xiv. 34 Hrædlice þar fleow blod ut & wæter. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3875 Ðo flew ðor water michil and strong. a1400–50Alexander 1350 Þar flowe out of fresh wynne flodez enowe. 1574T. Hill Planting 77 When the humour thereof is somewhat flowen. 1578Lyte Dodoens iii. xxi. 302 The sappe, when..first flowen out, is white. 1591Spenser Ruins Time 651 Streams of blood foorth flowed on the grass. c1724Swift Fontinella 4 Endless tears flow down in streams. 1813J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 251 The blood will continue to flow..till the exhausted animal expires. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxix, His tears flowed plentifully and bitterly.
b. To issue or proceed from, † of, out of, something as a source.
c1200Ormin 4783 War & wirrsenn toc anan Vt off hiss lic to flowenn. a1240Lofsong in Cott. Hom. 211 Þet flod þet fleaw of þine wunden. 1535Coverdale 2 Esdras i. 20 Dyd not I hew y⊇ hardstone & caused water ynough to flowe thereout? 1609J. Davies Holy Roode (Grosart) 20/1 His Gore, That from his Blood-founts..flow'd before. 1824R. Stuart Hist. Steam Engine 62 Cold water is now allowed to flow from the reservoir.
transf. and fig.1382Wyclif Song Sol. iv. 16 Bloȝ thurȝ my gardyn, and ther shul flowe swote spices of it. 1545Joye Exp. Dan. Text vii. 10 Longe fyery beames lyke a floude of fyer flouwing out of him. 1632Lithgow Trav. ii. 75 This City was..the great Cisterne of Europe, whence flowed so many conduit pipes of learning. 1682Burnet Rights Princes ii. 40 Some other reason that flowed not from him. 1713Steele Englishman No. 10. 66 His Behaviour does not flow from an Hardness in his Mind. 1794Burns A Vision vii, Frae his harp sic strains did flow. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 306 This rule flows..from the nature of a remainder. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xxxvii. 27 The Authority of the State Constitutions does not flow from Congress.
c. Of a person: To pour out one's feelings. Also with out.
1677Government Venice Ep. Ded. 3, I perceive I am flown out insensibly in your praises. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home, Recoll. Gifted Woman (1884) 91 The interview lasted above an hour, during which she flowed out freely. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 563 The mother flow'd in shallower acrimonies.
†d. trans. To pour forth in a stream. (Perh. reminiscent of the trans. use in 14 below).
1550Cranmer Def. 77 b, The stone that floweth water. 1906Amer. Naturalist June 446, I observed a tree which flowed little sap and continued flowing after the other trees had ceased.
9. Of the menstrual discharge. Said also of the person.
1754–64[see catamenia]. 1894Duane Dict. Med., Flow, to menstruate; especially to menstruate profusely.
III. To run full; to be in flood.
10. Of the sea, a tidal river, etc.: To rise and advance; frequent in phrase to ebb and flow: see ebb v. 1. to flow south, tide and half tide (see quots. 1627 and 1721). Cf. flood n. 1.
c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 327 Seo sæ symle feower prican oððe fif lator flowð. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 177 Eft son þe se flouweð. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 397 Bi þat þe flod to her fete floȝed & waxed. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems 196 Watir..Now ebbithe, flowithe. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 441 Thys yere the Thamys did flowe three times in one daye. 1624Heywood Gunaik. iv. 182 The waters..were flowed eighteene cubites above their woonted compasse. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 17 It flowes quarter floud. 1627― Seaman's Gram. (1653) 47 It flowes Tide and halfe Tide, that is, it will be halfe flood by the shore, before it begin to flow in the channell. 1691Swift Athenian Soc. Wks. 1755 IV. i. 229 When the deluge first began to fall, That mighty ebb never to flow again. 1721–1800in Bailey, It Flows South [Sea Phrase] it is high Water when the Sun is at that Point at new or full Moon. 1739C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 34 Before the Tide had flown or risen so high. 1816Byron Prisoner of Chillon vi, The massy waters ebb and flow. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 304 In the Thames..the tide requires about five hours to flow up. 1884Pae Eustace 7 The tide was flowing.
fig.1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 206 Vertue wolde fflowe whan vicis were ebbid. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 72 Doth it [pride] not flow as hugely as the Sea? 1786Burns Ded. to G. Hamilton 111 When ebbing life nae mair shall flow. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam v. li. 2 The throngs which ever ebbed and flowed. 1820Sporting Mag. VII. 25 The tide of success that flowed to Vauxhall.
†11.
a. To rise to a great height and overflow. In fig. phrases, to flow above the banks, to flow past shore: to overflow. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxli. (1495) 945 The ryuer Nylus was flowen and arysen. a1625Beaum. & Fl. False One iii. iv, Let Nylus flow, And perpetuall plenty show.
fig.1590Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 36 In wine and meats she flowd aboue the bancke. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 41 You flow to great distraction. 1615Chapman Odyss. iii. 335 Grave Nestor..flows Past shore in all experience.
b. The obs. pa. pple. flown, orig. used of a stream with the sense ‘swollen’, ‘in flood’ (see quot. c 1510), was used fig. in 17th c. of persons, and survives in allusions to Milton's phrase. (It is doubtful whether the etymological sense was remembered in the 17th c.) Cf. highflown.
c1510Sir R. Guilford's Pilgrimage (Camden) 31 Cedron..in wynter.. is meruaylously flowen with rage of water yt commyth with grete vyolence thrugh the vale of Josophat. a1656Ussher Ann. vi. (1658) 250 Being somewhat high flowen with wine. 1667Milton P.L. i. 501 Then wander forth the Sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. 1725Pope Odyss. i. 292 Unseemly flown with insolence and wine. 1879Butcher & Lang Odyss. 8 In such wise, flown with insolence, do they seem to me to revel.
†12. Of the eyes: To become overfull, to fill of, with (tears, etc.) Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 64 Al þe leor schal ulowen o teares, he seið. a1240Wohunge in Cott Hom. 283 Nu min herte mai to breke, min ehne flowen al o water. c1600Shakes. Sonn. xxx, Then can I drowne an eye (vn-vs'd to flow). c1689Prior To Ld. Buckhurst 19 Her eyes with tears no more will flow. 1710Steele Tatler No. 235 ⁋3, I have often seen the old Man's Heart flow at his Eyes with joy.
13. Of wine, etc.: To be poured out without stint; also fig. † In early use of wealth, etc. (after L. affluĕre): To abound.
c1000Ags. Ps. lxi[i]. 11 [10] Þeah þe eow wealan to wearmum flowen. 1490Caxton Eneydos xxii. 85 Sorowes and heuynesses dyde flowe at her herte in grete haboundance. 1667Milton P.L. v. 633 Rubied nectar flows In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold. 1782Cowper Charity 279 When thought is warm and fancy flows. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam ix. xvii. 2 Gold was scattered thro' the streets, and wine Flowed at a hundred feasts.
14. to flow with († in, † of): to abound in, to overflow with. Now rare exc. in Biblical phrase to flow with milk and honey (Wyclif and Mandeville, following a barbarism of the Vulgate, use the vb. in this phrase as transitive).
1382Wyclif Exod. iii. 8 A loond that flowith [1388 with] mylk and hony. 1388― Eccl. xi. 25 Who schal..flowe in delicis as Y dide? c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxx. 137, I sall giffe to ȝow land flowande mylke and hony. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1545) 53 Suche as flowe in worldly goodes. a1592H. Smith Three Serm. (1624) 23 Christ so flowed now with Diciples, that [etc.]. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 877 The Unjust and Ungodly, often flow in all kind of Prosperity. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. lii. 269 A land flowing with milk and honey.
15. a. trans. To cover or fill with water; to flood.
1382Wyclif Isa. xxviii. 17 The proteccioun watris shul flowe. 1666Evelyn Mem. 8 May (1819) I. 386 Here I flowed the drie moate. 1712Mortimer Husb. ii. 232 Watering..is scarce practicable, unless you have a Stream at hand to flow the Ground. 1845Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VI. ii. 274 Care being taken not to flow the land in summer where sheep are kept.
b. To cover with any liquid, as varnish or glaze, by causing it to flow over the surface. Also, To allow (a film) to flow.
1864J. Towler Silver Sunbeam 144 The glass is filed, cleaned, and flowed with collodion, as before directed. 1889Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 257 As if a very attenuated film of milk and water had been flowed over its surface.
16. Of the tide: To overtake and surround (a person). dial. (See quots.)
1735Dyche & Pardon, Flow, to come upon a Person or Thing greatly or hastily, like the Motion of Water when the Tide is coming in. 1875Sussex Gloss. s.v., ‘If you doant mind you'll be flown in, one of these days.’ 1876Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘They got flow'd on.’
Hence ˈflower |fləʊə(r)|, Metallurgy, a flow-gate (see flow n.1 9).
1881Wylie Iron-Founding 50 The use of flo'ers or gates. Ibid. 66 According to the thickness of the part so should the size of the flow'er be. |