Flow (flō), v. i. [imp. &
p. p. Flowed (flōd); p. pr. & vb.
n. Flowing.] [AS. flōwan; akin to D.
vloeijen, OHG. flawen to wash, Icel. flōa
to deluge, Gr. plw`ein to float, sail, and prob.
ultimately to E. float, fleet. √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.
2. To become liquid; to melt.
The mountains flowed down at thy
presence.
Is. lxiv. 3.
3. To proceed; to issue forth; as, wealth
flows from industry and economy.
Those thousand decencies that daily flow
From all her words and actions.
Milton.
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.
Virgil is sweet and flowingin his
hexameters.
Dryden.
5. To have or be in abundance; to abound; to
full, so as to run or flow over; to be copious.
In that day . . . the hills shall flow with
milk.
Joel iii. 18.
The exhilaration of a night that needed not the
influence of the flowing bowl.
Prof.
Wilson.
6. To hang loose and waving; as, a
flowing mantle; flowing locks.
The imperial purple flowing in his
train.
A. Hamilton.
7. To rise, as the tide; -- opposed to
ebb; as, the tide flows twice in twenty-four
hours.
The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb
between.
Shak.
8. To discharge blood in excess from the
uterus.
Flow, v. t. 1. To
cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to
flood.
2. To cover with varnish.
Flow, n. 1. A
stream of water or other fluid; a current; as, a flow of
water; a flow of blood.
2. A continuous movement of something
abundant; as, a flow of words.
3. Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure
of thought, diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady
movement of a river; a stream.
The feast of reason and the flow of
soul.
Pope.
4. The tidal setting in of the water from the
ocean to the shore. See Ebb and flow, under
Ebb.
5. A low-lying piece of watery land; --
called also flow moss and flow bog. [Scot.]
Jamieson.
Flow (flō), obs. imp. sing.
of Fly, v. i. Chaucer.