DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Stream n.
 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.”
 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.”
 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.
 Usage: 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.