n. [ 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. "ry`sis a flowing, "rei^n 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A beam or ray of light. “Sun streams.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A continued current or course; as, a stream of weather. “The very stream of his life.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Current; drift; tendency; series of tending or moving causes; as, the stream of opinions or manners. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Beneath those banks where rivers stream. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To pour out, or emit, a stream or streams. [ 1913 Webster ]

A thousand suns will stream on thee. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To issue in a stream of light; to radiate. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind; as, a flag streams in the wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To send forth in a current or stream; to cause to flow; to pour; as, his eyes streamed tears. [ 1913 Webster ]

It may so please that she at length will stream
Some dew of grace into my withered heart. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To mark with colors or embroidery in long tracts. [ 1913 Webster ]

The herald's mantle is streamed with gold. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To unfurl. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To stream the buoy. (Naut.) See under Buoy. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Physiol.) An instrument for ascertaining the velocity of the blood in a vessel. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. An ensign, flag, or pennant, which floats in the wind; specifically, a long, narrow, ribbonlike flag. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brave Rupert from afar appears,
Whose waving streamers the glad general knows. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A stream or column of light shooting upward from the horizon, constituting one of the forms of the aurora borealis. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

While overhead the North's dumb streamers shoot. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mining) A searcher for stream tin. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Journalism) a banner. [ PJC ]

a. Abounding in streams, or in water. “The streamful tide.” Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Mining) Gold in alluvial deposits; placer gold. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The state of being streamy; a trailing. R. A. Proctor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Sending forth streams. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or operation of that which streams; the act of that which sends forth, or which runs in, streams. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining) The reduction of stream tin; also, the search for stream tin. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Biol.) the rapid flow of cytoplasm within a cell; -- called also protoplasmic streaming. [ PJC ]