different between tear vs flow

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English teren, from Old English teran (“to tear, lacerate”), from Proto-Germanic *teran? (“to tear, tear apart, rip”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear, tear apart”). Cognate with Scots tere, teir, tair (“to rend, lacerate, wound, rip, tear out”), Dutch teren (“to eliminate, efface, live, survive by consumption”), German zehren (“to consume, misuse”), German zerren (“to tug, rip, tear”), Danish tære (“to consume”), Swedish tära (“to fret, consume, deplete, use up”), Icelandic tæra (“to clear, corrode”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Ancient Greek ???? (dér?, “to skin”), Albanian ther (“to slay, skin, pierce”). Doublet of tire.

Pronunciation 1

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tâ, IPA^(key): /t??/
• (US) enPR: târ, IPA^(key): /t??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: tare

Verb

tear (third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past tore, past participle torn or (now colloquial and nonstandard) tore)

2. (transitive) To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
   • 1886, Eleanor Marx-Aveling, translator, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, 1856, Part III Chapter XI,

     He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.

3. (transitive) To injure as if by pulling apart.

4. (transitive) To destroy or reduce abstract unity or coherence, such as social, political or emotional.

5. (transitive) To make (an opening) with force or energy.

6. (transitive, often with off or out) To remove by tearing.

7. (transitive, of structures, with down) To demolish

8. (intransitive) To become torn, especially accidentally.

9. (intransitive) To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.
   • 2019, Lana Del Rey, "Hope Is a Dangerous Thing":

     I've been tearing around in my fucking nightgown. 24/7 Sylvia Plath.

10. (intransitive) To smash or enter something with great force.

Synonyms

• (break): rend, rip
• (remove by tearing): rip out, tear off, tear out

Related terms

Translations

Noun

tear (plural tears)

1. A hole or break caused by tearing.

   A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.

2. (slang) A rampage.

   to go on a tear

Derived terms

• on a tear
• wear and tear

Translations

Derived terms

• tearsheet

Etymology 2

From Middle English teer, ter, tere, tear, from Old English t?ar, t?r, tæhher, teagor, *teahor (“drop; tear; what is distilled from anything in drops, nectar”), from Proto-West Germanic *tah(h)r, from Proto-Germanic *tahr? (“tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dá?ru- (“tears”).

Cognates include Old Norse tár (Danish tåre and Norwegian tåre), Old High German zahar (German Zähre), Gothic ???????????????? (tagr), Irish deoir and Latin lacrima.

Pronunciation 2

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tî, IPA^(key): /t??/
• (General American) enPR: tîr, IPA^(key): /t??/
• Homophone: tier (layer or rank)

Noun

tear (plural tears)

2. A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
3. Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
4. (glass manufacture) A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass.
5. That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tear (third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past and past participle teared)

1. (intransitive) To produce tears.

   Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind.

Translations

Anagrams

• 'eart, Ater, Reta, aret, arte-, rate, tare, tera-

Galician

Etymology

Tea (“cloth”) +? -ar. Compare Portuguese tear and Spanish telar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /te?a?/

Noun

tear m (plural teares)

1. loom

References

• “tear” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “tear” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “tear” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Middle English

Noun

tear

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of tere (“tear”)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *tah(h)r, from Proto-Germanic *tahr?.

Germanic cognates include Old Frisian t?r, Old High German zahar, Old Norse tár, Gothic ???????????????? (tagr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tæ???r/

Noun

t?ar m

1. tear (drop of liquid from the tear duct)

Declension

Derived terms

• t?eran

Descendants

• English: tear

Portuguese

Etymology

From teia +? -ar.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /te.?a?/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?tj.ar/
• Hyphenation: te?ar

Noun

tear m (plural teares)

1. loom (machine used to make cloth out of thread)
   • 1878, Joaquim Pedro Oliveira Martins, O hellenismo e a civilisação christan, publ. by the widow Bertand & Co., page 24.

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

tear c (plural tearen, diminutive tearke)

1. fold
2. crease

Further reading

• “tear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

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