(Homonym: floe).
1. Any uninterrupted stream or discharge.
2. The act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression; SYN. stream.
3. The amount of fluid that flows in a given time; SYN. flow rate, rate of flow.
4. The motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases); SYN. flowing.
Travel of liquids or gases in response to a force (i.e. pressure or gravity).
ETYM Latin fluentia: cf. French fluence. Related to Fluent.
1. Skillfulness in speaking or writing.
2. The quality of being facile in speech and writing; SYN. volubility, articulateness.
ETYM Latin fluxus, from fluere, fluxum, to flow: cf.French flux. Related to Fluent, Floss, Flush.
1. The total strength of a magnetic, electric, or radiation field over a given area.
2. A chemical used to aid the binding of solder to electrical conductors.
In soldering, a substance that improves the bonding properties of solder by removing contamination from metal surfaces and preventing their oxidation, and by reducing the surface tension of the molten solder alloy. For example, with solder made of lead-tin alloys, the flux may be resin, borax, or zinc chloride.In smelting, a substance that combines with the unwanted components of the ore to produce a fusible slag, which can be separated from the molten metal. For example, the mineral fluorite, CaF2, is used as a flux in iron smelting; it has a low melting point and will form a fusible mixture with substances of higher melting point such as silicates and oxides.A chemically- or physically-active formulation which has the ability to clean oxides and enables wetting of metals with solder.
1. A flow or discharge; SYN. fluxion.
2. A substance added to molten metals to bond with impurities that can then be readily removed.
3. In constant change.
4. The rate of flow of energy or particles across a given surface.
ETYM French rivčre a river, Late Lat. riparia river, bank of a river, from Latin riparius belonging to a bank or shore, from ripa a bank or shore; of uncertain origin. Related to Arrive, Riparian.
A large natural stream of water (larger than a creek).
Long water course that flows down a slope along a channel. It originates at a point called its source, and enters a sea or lake at its mouth. Along its length it may be joined by smaller rivers called tributaries. A river and its tributaries are contained within a drainage basin.
One way of classifying rivers is their stage of development. A youthful stream is typified by a narrow V-shaped valley with numerous waterfalls, lakes, and rapids. When maturity is reached the river is said to be graded; erosion and deposition are delicately balanced as the river meanders across the extensive floodplain. At this stage the floodplain is characterized by extensive meanders, ox-bow lakes and levées.
ETYM as. streám; akin to OFries. strâm, os. strôm, Dutch stroom, German strom, Old High Germ. stroum, strűm, Dan. and Swed. ström, Icel. straumr, Irish sroth, Lith. srove, Russ. struia, Greek rysis a flowing, rein to flow, Skr. sru. Related to Catarrh, Diarrhea, Rheum, Rhythm.
1. A natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth; SYN. watercourse.
2. Dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas; SYN. flow, current.
3. Something that resembles a flowing stream in moving continuously; SYN. flow.