stream

plural streams

1. A small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks.

   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.

   2013 January 28, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 59

   1 more example

   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:[…].

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   Synonyms: beck, brook, burn

2. umbrella termsciencesAll moving waters.
3. 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.

4. Current, the force of moving water.

   to swim against the stream

5. 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.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen.

   2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian

6. figurativelyA particular path, channel, division, or way of proceeding.

   Haredi Judaism is a stream of Orthodox Judaism characterized by rejection of modern secular culture.

7. computingA source or repository of data that can be read or written only sequentially.

   In the context of computer science, lexical analysis can be defined as the conversion of a stream of characters to a stream of meaningful tokens.

8. Digital data (e.g. music or video) delivered in a continuous manner to a client computer, intended for immediate consumption or playback.
   1. An instance of streaming digital data.

      If your favorite Succession storylines involve the fictional ATN and network drama, give Apple TV’s The Morning Show a stream.

      2023 May 3, Courtney Young, “13 Shows to Binge When ‘Succession’ Ends”, in Cosmopolitan

   2. A live stream.
9. UKeducationA 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.

10. A train of thought or flow in a conversation or discussion.

    Not to switch streams, but we really need to focus on talking about the economy right now...

present singular third person streams · participle present streaming · participle past streamed · past streamed

1. intransitiveTo flow in a continuous or steady manner, like a liquid.

   beneath those banks where rivers now stream

   1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   1 more example

   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.

   [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind.

   A flag streams in the wind.

3. transitiveTo discharge in a stream.

   The soldier's wound was streaming blood.

4. InternetTo push continuous data (e.g. music) from a server to a client computer while it is being used (played) on the client.
5. InternetTo livestream.

   1 more example

   I did factor in the whole, like, "oh, I wonder if doing streaming, and the money that's kind of attached to it, is the reason I wanted to do this?", like, is it warping my brain? I did think about that. I've streamed for years and it's been my entire life and I've made a lot of money off it, and I wondered if that's what's affecting me and making me want to do this. And it's not.

   2024 March 1, F1NN5TER, 1:40 from the start, in Coming Out, archived from the original on 14 May 2024

plural Streams

1. A surname.