From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
flow
n 1: the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases) [syn:
flowing]
2: the amount of fluid that flows in a given time [syn: {flow
rate}, rate of flow]
3: the act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression
[syn: 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]
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,
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]
v 1: move or progress freely as if in a stream; "The crowd flowed
out of the stadium" [syn: flux]
2: move along, of liquids; "Water flowed into the cave"; "the
Missouri feeds into the Mississippi" [syn: run, 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]
6: cover or swamp with water
7: undergo menstruation; "She started menstruating at the age
of 11" [syn: menstruate]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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3. Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought,
diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady
movement of a river; a stream.
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The feast of reason and the flow of soul. --Pope.
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4. The tidal setting in of the water from the ocean to the
shore. See Ebb and flow, under Ebb.
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5. A low-lying piece of watery land; -- called also {flow
moss} and flow bog. [Scot.] --Jamieson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Flow \Flow\ (fl[=o]), obs.
imp. sing. of Fly, v. i. --Chaucer.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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2. To become liquid; to melt.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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6. To hang loose and waving; as, a flowing mantle; flowing
locks.
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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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From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
Flow
<tool> A companion utility to Floppy by Julian James Bunn
<julian@vxcrna.cxern.ch>. 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)