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Webster 1913 Edition


Stream

Stream

(strēm)
,
Noun.
[AS.
streám
; akin to OFries.
strām
, OS.
strōm
, D.
stroom
, G.
strom
, OHG.
stroum
,
strūm
, Dan. & Sw.
ström
, Icel.
straumr
, Ir.
sroth
, Lith.
srove
, Russ.
struia
, Gr.
ῥύσισ
a flowing,
ῥεῖν
to flow, Skr.
sru
. √174. Cf.
Catarrh
,
Diarrhea
,
Rheum
,
Rhythm
.]
1.
A current of water or other fluid; a liquid flowing continuously in a line or course, either on the earth, as a river, brook, etc., or from a vessel, reservoir, or fountain; specifically, any course of running water;
as, many
streams
are blended in the Mississippi; gas and steam came from the earth in
streams
; a
stream
of molten lead from a furnace; a
stream
of lava from a volcano.
2.
A beam or ray of light.
“Sun streams.”
Chaucer.
3.
Anything issuing or moving with continued succession of parts;
as, a
stream
of words; a
stream
of sand
.
“The stream of beneficence.”
Atterbury.
“The stream of emigration.”
Macaulay.
4.
A continued current or course;
as, a
stream
of weather
.
“The very stream of his life.”
Shak.
5.
Current; drift; tendency; series of tending or moving causes;
as, the
stream
of opinions or manners
.
Gulf stream
.
See under
Gulf
.
Stream anchor
,
Stream cable
.
(Naut.)
See under
Anchor
, and
Cable
.
Stream ice
,
blocks of ice floating in a mass together in some definite direction.
Stream tin
,
particles or masses of tin ore found in alluvial ground; – so called because a stream of water is the principal agent used in separating the ore from the sand and gravel.
Stream works
(Cornish Mining)
,
a place where an alluvial deposit of tin ore is worked.
Ure.
To float with the stream
,
figuratively, to drift with the current of opinion, custom, etc., so as not to oppose or check it.
Syn. – Current; flow; rush; tide; course.
Stream
,
Current
. These words are often properly interchangeable; but stream is the broader word, denoting a prevailing onward course. The stream of the Mississippi rolls steadily on to the Gulf of Mexico, but there are reflex currents in it which run for a while in a contrary direction.

Stream

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Streamed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Streaming
.]
1.
To issue or flow in a stream; to flow freely or in a current, as a fluid or whatever is likened to fluids;
as, tears
streamed
from her eyes
.
Beneath those banks where rivers
stream
.
Milton.
2.
To pour out, or emit, a stream or streams.
A thousand suns will
stream
on thee.
Tennyson.
3.
To issue in a stream of light; to radiate.
4.
To extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind;
as, a flag
streams
in the wind
.

Stream

,
Verb.
T.
To send forth in a current or stream; to cause to flow; to pour;
as, his eyes
streamed
tears
.
It may so please that she at length will
stream

Some dew of grace into my withered heart.
Spenser.
2.
To mark with colors or embroidery in long tracts.
The herald’s mantle is
streamed
with gold.
Bacon.
3.
To unfurl.
Shak.
To stream the buoy
.
(Naut.)
See under
Buoy
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Stream

STREAM

,
Noun.
1.
A current of water or other fluid; a liquid substance flowing in a line or course, either on the earth, as a river or brook, or from a vessel or other reservoir or fountain. Hence,
2.
A river, brook or rivulet.
3.
A current of water in the ocean; as the gulf stream.
4.
A current of melted metal or other substance; as a stream of lead or iron flowing from a furnace; a stream of lava from a volcano.
5.
Any thing issuing from a source and moving with a continued succession of parts; as a stream of words; a stream of sand.
A stream of beneficence.
6.
A continued current of course; as a stream of weather. [Not used.]
The stream of his life.
7.
A current of air or gas, or of light.
8.
Current; drift; as of opinions or manners. It is difficult to oppose the stream of public opinion.
9.
Water.

STREAM

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To flow; to move or run in a continuous current. Blood streams from a vein.
Beneath the banks where rivers stream.
2.
To emit; to pour out in abundance. His eyes streamed with tears.
3.
To issue with continuance, not by fits.
From opning skies my streaming glories shine.
4.
To issue or shoot in streaks; as light streaming from the east.
5.
To extend; to stretch in a long line; as a flag streaming in the wind.

STREAM

,
Verb.
T.
To mark with colors or embroidery in long tracts.
The heralds mantle is streamed with gold.

Definition 2024


stream

stream

English

Gustave Courbet's Le ruisseau de la Brême (The Brême Stream, 1866)

Noun

stream (plural streams)

  1. A small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
      Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: [] .
    • 2013 January 1, Nancy Langston, The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 59:
      European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.
  2. A thin connected passing of a liquid through a lighter gas (e.g. air).
    He poured the milk in a thin stream from the jug to the glass.
  3. Any steady flow or succession of material, such as water, air, radio signal or words.
    Her constant nagging was to him a stream of abuse.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess:
      With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.
    • 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian:
      A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen.
  4. (sciences) An umbrella term for all moving waters.
  5. (computing) A source or repository of data that can be read or written only sequentially.
  6. (Britain, education) A division of a school year by perceived ability.
    All of the bright kids went into the A stream, but I was in the B stream.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

  • (computing): octet stream

Translations

Related terms

Verb

stream (third-person singular simple present streams, present participle streaming, simple past and past participle streamed)

  1. (intransitive) To flow in a continuous or steady manner, like a liquid.
    • Milton
      beneath those banks where rivers stream
    • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
      When I came to myself I was lying, not in the outer blackness of the Mohune vault, not on a floor of sand; but in a bed of sweet clean linen, and in a little whitewashed room, through the window of which the spring sunlight streamed.
  2. To extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind.
    A flag streams in the wind.
  3. (Internet) To push continuous data (e.g. music) from a server to a client computer while it is being used (played) on the client.

Translations

Anagrams


Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *straumaz, from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (river), from *srew- (to flow). Germanic cognates include Old Frisian strām (West Frisian stream), Old Saxon strōm (Low German Stroom), Dutch stroom, Old High German stroum, strōm (German Strom), Old Norse straumr (Norwegian straum, Danish strøm Icelandic straumur). Extra-Germanic cognates include Ancient Greek ῥεῦμα (rheûma), Polish strumień, Albanian rrymë (flow, current).

Noun

strēam m

  1. stream

Descendants

  • Middle English: strem, streem

Spanish

Noun

stream m (plural streams)

  1. (computing) stream

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian strām, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz (stream), from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (river), from *srew- (to flow). Compare North Frisian strum, English stream, Low German Stroom, Dutch stroom, German Strom, Danish strøm.

Noun

stream c

  1. river
  2. stream