flow

1. The pattern of air movements around a moving vehicle with such airflow being invisible, unless it is studied under special conditions in a wind tunnel.
2. A rate of movement for air, computed by volume or mass for a certain time unit.

1. The continuous movement of a liquid in one direction.
2. The line of vehicles or people which are moving or progressing freely as if in a stream.
3. A supply of something that continues until it stops; such as, the movements of liquids, gas, or electrical charges.
4. A way of talking or thinking in an easy natural way, without any pauses or difficulties.
5. The movement of the ocean or the movement of a rising tide toward the land.

1. To move freely from one place to another place in large numbers or amounts in a steady unbroken stream; as, a line of vehicles or people continuously moving: The mayor wants to develop measures that will allow traffic to flow freely even during 'rush hours'."
2. In physics, the continuous movement of a liquid in one direction or to move freely in one continuous mass; such as, fluids.
3. In physiology, to move through the veins and arteries of the body; a reference to the blood.
4. To be said fluently or to be expressed without hesitation and eloquently: The conversation started to flow when the subject of jobs was introduced by the company administer.
5. To be experienced very intensely, often in a way that is visible to other people: A wave of anger flowed throughout the audience when the congressman suggested increasing taxes.
6. To fall or to hang loosely and gracefully; such as, clothes or hair.
7. Oceanography, ocean or tidal water that moves toward the land as the tide rises.
8. In geology, to change shape gradually in response to pressure without the development of cracks or fissures.
9. Electric current passing continuously through something.
10. To move with a continual shifting of the component particles; such as, wheat flowing into a bin or traffic flowing through a tunnel.

Very large operation on a unit which is continuously performed one after the other; usually, on a production line.

1. An economic magnitude describing behavior that takes place over time and is therefore meaningful to a unit of time: Examples of flow variables in economics include: the value of exports (dollars per year), demand for foreign exchange (euros per day), and migration (people per month).

2. Activities that occur over time: Income is a flow variable that occurs per week, per month, or per year.

A method of representing in schematic form the flow of data in a system: The supervisor's flowchart shows the points of input and output, the logic or sequence of the various processing steps in a system, and the relationship of one element of the system to the other parts of the system or to other information systems.

A reference to something suggestive of running water: A flowingly thought; the current of history; a flood of ideas; a flux of words; a rush of sympathy; a stream of complaints; a tide of immigration.