aflowadv.adj.
/əˈfləʊ/, U.S. /əˈfloʊ/ A. adv.
In or into a flowing state, so as to flow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of flowing > [adverb]
currently1586
aflow1830
1830 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 13/2 The moral sensibilities which are set aflow by the contemplation of heroic virtues!
1916 P. Worth in C. S. Yost Patience Worth 150 Afield the grasses glint, and breeze doth seeming set aflow the current o' a green-waved stream.
2010 S. Shah Fever ix. 213 The political calculus that set the funding stream aflow had shifted.
B. adj.
In predicative use: flowing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of flowing > [adjective]
flowinga1000
runningOE
laving13..
yerning1340
current?1523
coursing1600
fluent1607
coulant1632
aflow1863
1863 D. G. Mitchell My Farm of Edgewood 292 I described the air as all aflow with the perfume of purple lilacs.
1937 E. Blunden Elegy 74 The petalled cloud and the blue brook aflow.
1978 H. Margenau Physics & Philos. p. xxiv While working on our book, I endeavored to keep my output of research papers aflow.
2009 R. Gilmore in M. T. Conard Philos. Coen Brothers i. 74 When one has outgrown the world of the young, the world aflow with sensual music, one must make one's own music, presumably, as art.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adv.adj.1830