flow
    n 1: the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases)
         [syn: flow, flowing]
    2: the amount of fluid that flows in a given time [syn: flow,
       flow rate, rate of flow]
    3: the act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression [syn:
       flow, stream]
    4: any uninterrupted stream or discharge
    5: something that resembles a flowing stream in moving
       continuously; "a stream of people emptied from the terminal";
       "the museum had planned carefully for the flow of visitors"
       [syn: stream, flow]
    6: dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive
       events or ideas; "two streams of development run through
       American history"; "stream of consciousness"; "the flow of
       thought"; "the current of history" [syn: stream, flow,
       current]
    7: the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant
       women from puberty to menopause; "the women were sickly and
       subject to excessive menstruation"; "a woman does not take
       the gout unless her menses be stopped"--Hippocrates; "the
       semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same
       time of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females"--
       Aristotle [syn: menstruation, menses, menstruum,
       catamenia, period, flow]
    v 1: move or progress freely as if in a stream; "The crowd
         flowed out of the stadium" [syn: flow, flux]
    2: move along, of liquids; "Water flowed into the cave"; "the
       Missouri feeds into the Mississippi" [syn: run, flow,
       feed, course]
    3: cause to flow; "The artist flowed the washes on the paper"
    4: be abundantly present; "The champagne flowed at the wedding"
    5: fall or flow in a certain way; "This dress hangs well"; "Her
       long black hair flowed down her back" [syn: hang, fall,
       flow]
    6: cover or swamp with water
    7: undergo menstruation; "She started menstruating at the age of
       11" [syn: menstruate, flow]

Flow \Flow\ (fl[=o]), obs.
   imp. sing. of Fly, v. i. --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

Flow \Flow\ (fl[=o]), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flowed (fl[=o]d); p.
   pr. & vb. n. Flowing.] [AS. fl[=o]wan; akin to D. vloeijen,
   OHG. flawen to wash, Icel. fl[=o]a to deluge, Gr. plw`ein to
   float, sail, and prob. ultimately to E. float, fleet.
   [root]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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To become liquid; to melt.
      [1913 Webster]

            The mountains flowed down at thy presence. --Is.
                                                  lxiv. 3.
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   3. To proceed; to issue forth; as, wealth flows from industry
      and economy.
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            Those thousand decencies that daily flow
            From all her words and actions.       --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Virgil is sweet and flowingin his hexameters.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   5. To have or be in abundance; to abound; to full, so as to
      run or flow over; to be copious.
      [1913 Webster]

            In that day . . . the hills shall flow with milk.
                                                  --Joel iii.
                                                  18.
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            The exhilaration of a night that needed not the
            influence of the flowing bowl.        --Prof.
                                                  Wilson.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To hang loose and waving; as, a flowing mantle; flowing
      locks.
      [1913 Webster]

            The imperial purple flowing in his train. --A.
                                                  Hamilton.
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   7. To rise, as the tide; -- opposed to ebb; as, the tide
      flows twice in twenty-four hours.
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            The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb between.
                                                  --Shak.
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   8. To discharge blood in excess from the uterus.
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Flow \Flow\, v. t.
   1. To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to
      inundate; to flood.
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   2. To cover with varnish.
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Flow \Flow\, n.
   1. A stream of water or other fluid; a current; as, a flow of
      water; a flow of blood.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A continuous movement of something abundant; as, a flow of
      words.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought,
      diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady
      movement of a river; a stream.
      [1913 Webster]

            The feast of reason and the flow of soul. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The tidal setting in of the water from the ocean to the
      shore. See Ebb and flow, under Ebb.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A low-lying piece of watery land; -- called also flow
      moss and flow bog. [Scot.] --Jamieson.
      [1913 Webster]

Flow

    A companion utility to Floppy by Julian James Bunn
   .  Flow allows the user to produce
   various reports on the structure of Fortran 77 code, such as
   flow diagrams and common block tables.  It runs under VMS,
   Unix, CMS.

   Posted to comp.sources.misc volume 31.

   (1995-03-14)