close
Jump to content

flow

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

Etymology 1

[edit]

From Middle English flowe, from the verb (see below). The psychology sense “state of focus” was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975.

Image

Noun

[edit]

flow (countable and uncountable, plural flows)

  1. Movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.
  2. The movement of a real or figurative fluid.
  3. (mathematics) 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).
  9. (psychology) A mental state characterized by concentration, focus, and enjoyment of a given task.
    • 2014 January 14, Alex Lockwood, “How to achieve a state of flow when running”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      The point about flow is that it is enjoyable. As research has shown "the more often athletes experienced flow, the happier they were." But the second is that entering flow actually improves performance.
  10. 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.
  11. (rap music jargon) The ability to skillfully rap along to a beat.
    The production on his new mixtape is mediocre but his flow is on point.
    • 2003, “In da Club”, in Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent:
      Now shawty said she feelin' my style, she feelin' my flow […] / My flow, my show brought me the dough / That bought me all my fancy things
  12. (software) The sequence of steps taken in a piece of software to perform some action.
    login flow
    search flow
    • 2015, Dan, “Best practices for tracking progress through a sign up flow”, in snowplow-user mailing list‎[2]:
      I'm setting up event tracking for a pretty standard, multi-step signup flow, and I'm wondering [...]
Synonyms
[edit]
Antonyms
[edit]
Hyponyms
[edit]
Derived terms
[edit]
Translations
[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
[edit]

Etymology 2

[edit]

    From Middle English flowen, from Old English flōwan (“to flow”), from Proto-West Germanic *flōan, from Proto-Germanic *flōaną (“to flow”), from Proto-Indo-European *plōw-, lengthened o-grade form of *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”).

    Cognate with Saterland Frisian flouje (“to flow”), West Frisian floeie (“to flow”), Dutch vloeien (“to flow”), Norwegian flo (“to flow”). Compare also English float. Not cognate with Latin fluō despite similarity.

    Verb

    [edit]

    flow (third-person singular simple present flows, present participle flowing, simple 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; to emanate.
      Wealth flows from industry and economy.
    3. (intransitive) To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.
      The writing is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow.
      • 1697, Virgil, “Dedication”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page [183]:
        […] 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.
    5. (intransitive) To hang loosely and wave.
      a flowing mantle
      flowing locks
    6. (intransitive) To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.
      Synonyms: come in, come up
      The tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
    7. (transitive, computing) To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.
    8. (transitive) To allow (a liquid) to flow.
      • 1932, Carl Ernest Reistle, Paraffin and Congealing-Oil Problems, volumes 340-349, page 45:
        The action is usually progressive, and as a certain amount of oil is flowed from the tubing it lowers the pressure on the remaining oil and liberates more gas, thus causing additional oil to flow from the tubing.
    9. (transitive) To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
    10. (transitive) To cover with varnish.
    11. (intransitive) To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.
    Derived terms
    [edit]
    Translations
    [edit]
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Etymology 3

    [edit]

    Uncertain. Perhaps from Old Norse flói (“a large bay, firth”), see floe. Compare Scots flow (“peat-bog, marsh”), Icelandic flói (“marshy ground”).

    Noun

    [edit]

    flow (plural flows)

    1. (Scotland) A bog or mire, especially a rough, waterlogged one.
      • 1794, John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland, volume 10, page 328:
        […] there are other extensive mosses in this district, commonly called flowes, which it is not probable ever will, or ever can be, converted into arable land. Some of these flowes are found to be 20, 25, or 30 feet deep, and are, besides, such a dead level, that the water has little or no descent; and even supposing they should be cast, or burnt to the bottom, standing pools of dirty water could only stand in their place.
      • 1871, Alexander Boswell, Poetical Works, page 213:
        Ye'll stick in some flow, Or, ye'll melt in a thow
      • 1895, Crockett, Moss-Hags page xlii:
        Had been roughly laid with bog-wood dug from the flowes,
      • 1896, Proudlock, Borderland Muse, page 8:
        Dandering o'er ferney knowes, [...] Springing o'er bogs an' flowes, [...]
      • 1898 July 23, Shetland News, quoted in the EDD:
        If dey wirna a day apo' da flow dan he [it] wis nae man's bishaness.
    Derived terms
    [edit]

    References

    [edit]

    Further reading

    [edit]
    • “flow”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

    Anagrams

    [edit]

    Dutch

    [edit]
    Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia nl

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Etymology 1

    [edit]

      Unadapted borrowing from English flow.

      Noun

      [edit]

      flow f or m (plural flows, no diminutive)

      1. (music) rhythm, flow of music (particularly in jazz)
        Het duurde een paar nummers, maar toen de drummer eenmaal op gang kwam kreeg Baba Commandant de flow die essentieel is in afrobeat.
        It took a few songs, but once the drummer got going, Baba Commandant got the rhythm that is essential in Afrobeat.
      2. (music) flow (ability to skilfully rap)
        Snoop rapt met zijn vertrouwd achteloze flow.
        Snoop raps with his familiar casual flow.
      3. (psychology) flow (mental state characterized by concentration, focus, and enjoyment of a given task)
        Je lichaam maakt onder stress extra adrenaline aan, waardoor je in een flow raakt. Dat kan goed zijn voor je concentratie.
        Your body produces extra adrenaline under stress, which puts you in a flow. This can be good for your concentration.
      4. streak of successes
        Roger Federer verloor op de Australian Open kansloos van Novak Djokovic. De flow die de Zwitser ooit had lijkt doorbroken.
        Roger Federer lost to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open without a chance. The streak that the Swiss once had seems to have been broken.

      Etymology 2

      [edit]

      See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

      Verb

      [edit]

      flow

      1. inflection of flowen:
        1. first-person singular present indicative
        2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
        3. imperative

      Further reading

      [edit]
      • “flow” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

      French

      [edit]
      French Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia fr

      Etymology

      [edit]

        Unadapted borrowing from English flow.

        Pronunciation

        [edit]

        Noun

        [edit]

        flow m (plural flows)

        1. (music) flow
        2. flow (style)

        Polish

        [edit]
        Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
        Wikipedia pl

        Etymology

        [edit]
        Etymology tree
        English flowubor.
        Polish flow

          Unadapted borrowing from English flow.

          Pronunciation

          [edit]
          • IPA(key): /ˈflɔw/, /ˈflɔ/
          • Rhymes: -ɔw, -ɔ
          • Syllabification: flow

          Noun

          [edit]

          flow m inan or n (indeclinable) (colloquial, uncountable)

          1. (rap music jargon) flow (the ability to skillfully rap along to a beat)
          3. (psychology) flow (a mental state characterized by concentration, focus, and enjoyment of a given task)
            Synonym: przepływ
            złapać flow ― to catch flow
          4. flow (smoothness or continuity)
            Czy był flow na callu? ― Was there good flow on the call?

          Derived terms

          [edit]
          verbs
          [edit]
          nouns

          Further reading

          [edit]
          • “flow”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[3] (in Polish)
          • flow at Obserwatorium językowe Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
          • flow at Obserwatorium Językowe Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

          Portuguese

          [edit]
          Portuguese Wikipedia has an article on:
          Wikipedia pt

          Etymology

          [edit]

            Unadapted borrowing from English flow.

            Pronunciation

            [edit]

            Request for audio pronunciation This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.
            • Hyphenation: flow

            Noun

            [edit]

            flow m (plural flows)

            1. (colloquial) flow (the ability to rap skillfully)

            Spanish

            [edit]
            Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:
            Wikipedia es

            Etymology

            [edit]

              Unadapted borrowing from English flow.

              Pronunciation

              [edit]
              • IPA(key): /ˈflou/ [ˈflou̯]
              • Rhymes: -ou
              • Syllabification: flow

              Noun

              [edit]

              flow m (plural flows)

              1. (colloquial) flow (the ability to rap skillfully)
              2. (colloquial, uncommon) flow (as in go with the flow)
                ir con el flow ― go with the flow

              Usage notes

              [edit]

              According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

              Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=flow&oldid=90478823"