different between flow vs chain

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: fl?
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fl??/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /flo?/
• Homophones: floe, Flo
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

From Middle English flowen, from Old English fl?wan (“to flow”), from Proto-West Germanic *fl?an, from Proto-Germanic *fl?an? (“to flow”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl?w-, lengthened o-grade form of *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”). Compare float.

Noun

flow (countable and uncountable, plural flows)

1. A movement in people or things with a particular way in large numbers or amounts
2. The movement of a real or figurative fluid.
3. (mathematics) A formalization of the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid, as a group action of the real numbers on a set.

   The notion of flow is basic to the study of ordinary differential equations.

4. The rising movement of the tide.
5. Smoothness or continuity.

6. The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.

7. A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare with return pipe which returns fluid to central plant).
8. (psychology) A mental state characterized by concentration, focus and enjoyment of a given task.
9. The emission of blood during menstruation.

10. (rap music slang) The ability to skilfully rap along to a beat.

11. (computing) The sequence of steps taken in a piece of software to perform some action. (Usually preceded by an attributive such as login or search.)

Synonyms

• (continuity): See also Thesaurus:continuity

Antonyms

• (movement of the tide): ebb
• (continuity): See also Thesaurus:discontinuity

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• ebb and flow
• flowchart
• flowmeter
• freeflow
• single-flow

Translations

Further reading

• flow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Flow (psychology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

flow (third-person singular simple present flows, present participle flowing, simple past and past participle flowed)

1. (intransitive) To move as a fluid from one position to another.

   Rivers flow from springs and lakes.

   Tears flow from the eyes.

2. (intransitive) To proceed; to issue forth.

   Wealth flows from industry and economy.
3. (intransitive) To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.

   The writing is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow.

   • , Dedication

     Virgil […] is […] sweet and flowing in his hexameters.

4. (intransitive) To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.

   • In that day […] the hills shall flow with milk.

   • 1845, John Wilson, The Genius and Character of Robert Burns

     the exhilaration of a night that needed not the influence of the flowing bowl

5. (intransitive) To hang loosely and wave.

   a flowing mantle; flowing locks

   • March 11, 1788, Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers

     the imperial purple flowing in his train

6. (intransitive) To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.

   The tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
7. (transitive, computing) To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.
8. (transitive) To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
9. (transitive) To cover with varnish.
10. (intransitive) To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.

Derived terms

• flowable, reflowable
• free-flowing
• overflow
• underflow

Translations

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Perhaps from Old Norse flói (“a large bay, firth”), see floe. Compare Scots flow (“peat-bog, marsh”), Icelandic flói (“marshy ground”).

Noun

flow (plural flows)

1. (Scotland) A morass or marsh.

References

• “flow, n.².”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000
• “flow, v., n.¹” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

Anagrams

• Wolf, fowl, wolf

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?flow/, [?flow]

Noun

flow m (plural flows)

1. flow

English

Etymology

From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin cat?na (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Noun

chain (plural chains)

1. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

2. A series of interconnected things.

3. A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.

4. (chemistry) A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.

5. (surveying) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
6. (surveying) A long measuring tape.
7. A unit of length equal to 22 yards. The length of a Gunter's surveying chain. The length of a cricket pitch. Equal to 20.12 metres, 4 rods, or 100 links.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter X, p. 177, [1]

     "But it's too far—must be a quarter of a mile—and I've a portmanteau to carry." […]

     "Garn!" shouted the guard. "Taint ten chain. […] "

8. (mathematics, set theory, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
   • 2003, Jeremy P. Spinrad, Efficient Graph Representations, American Mathematical Society, page 108,

     We first find an approximation of the chain partition, i.e. a small but not minimum size set of chains which cover all elements of the poset.

9. (Britain) A sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase (said to be "broken" if a buyer or seller pulls out).
10. That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
11. (nautical, in the plural) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
12. (weaving) The warp threads of a web.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (series of interconnected rings or links): rackle
• (series of interconnected things): See also Thesaurus:sequence

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

chain (third-person singular simple present chains, present participle chaining, simple past and past participle chained)

1. (transitive) To fasten something with a chain.

2. (figuratively) To connect as if with a chain, due to dependence, addiction, or other feelings}}

3. (intransitive) To link multiple items together.
4. (transitive) To secure someone with fetters.
5. (transitive) To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.
6. (figuratively) To obligate.
7. (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
8. (computing) To be chained to another data item.
9. (transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
10. (transitive, computing, rare, associated with Acorn Computers) To load and automatically run (a program).
    • 1996, "Mr D Walsh", Running two programs from a batch file (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.misc)

      How do you get one program to chain another? I want to run DrawWorks2 then !Draw but as soon as you run Drawworks2 it finishes the batch file and doesn't go on to the next instruction! Is there a way without loading one of these automatic loaders?

    • 1998, "Juan Flynn", BBC software transmitted on TV - how to load? (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.misc)

      You can do LOAD "" or CHAIN "" to load or chain the next program if I remember correctly (it's been a loooong time since I've used a tape on an Acorn!)

    • 2006, "Richard Porter", SpamStamp double headers (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.apps)

      Recent versions of AntiSpam no longer use the Config file but have a Settings file instead, so when I updated the Config file to chain SpamStamp it had no effect as it was a redundant file.

Derived terms

• unchain
• chain up

Translations

References

• chain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• chain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• OED 2nd edition 1989

Further reading

• chain on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Anich, Chian, China, china

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ai?n/

Adjective

chain

1. Aspirate mutation of cain.

Mutation