Forms: 1 stréam, stréaum, stréom, 2–6 strem(e, 3 strime, striem, stræm, (stram), 3 streume, (4 stremme), 4–7 streem(e, 5–6 streym(e, 5–7 streame, 3– stream. [Com. Teut. (not recorded in Gothic): OE. stréam masc. = OFris. strâm (WFris. stream, NFris. strôm, strûm), OS. stróm (Du. stroom), OHG., MHG. stroum (mod.G. strom), ON. straum-r (Sw. ström, Da. strøm):—OTeut. *straumo-z:—pre-Teut. *sroumo-s, f. Indogermanic root *srou- (:*sreu-: *srŭ-) to flow.
Among the many cognates outside Teut. are Skr. sru (3rd sing. pres. sravati) to flow, sruta fluid; Gr. ῥέ(ϝ)ειν to flow, ῥεῦμα a flow, ῥό(ϝ)ος current; OSl., Russ. струя struya stream; OIrish struaim stream, sruth (= MWelsh frut, mod. Welsh ffrwd stream).]
1. A course of water flowing continuously along a bed on the earth, forming a river, rivulet or brook.
c. 875. Erfurt Gloss., 2036, in O. E. Texts, 102. Torrentibus, streaumum.
a. 1000. Boeth. Metr., xx. 172. Swa stent eall weoruld…, streamas ymbutan.
c. 1205. Lay., 21323. Nu he stant on hulle & Auene bi-haldeð hu ligeð i þan stræme stelene fisces.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2096. Ðo drempte pharaon king a drem, ðat he stod bi ðe flodes strem.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1316. He saw a spring Of a well … Þat out of ran four gret stremmes; Gyson, fison, tigre, eufrate.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 464. She hadde passed many a straunge strem.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. xix. 144. Aboue ther by was the hede of the streme a fayr fontayne.
a. 1552. Leland, Itin. (1910), V. 72. For there the streme of Isis breaketh into many armelets. The fery [Hinkesey] selfe is over the principal arme or streame of Isis.
1668. Dryden, Ess. Dram. Poesie, 62. ’Tis like the murmuring of a stream, which not varying in the fall, causes at first attention, at last drowsiness.
1709. T. Robinson, Nat. Hist. Westm. & Cumberl., viii. 48. The River Eden … takes into its Stream the Rivers Eamont and Lowther, which make a considerable Increase to it.
1745. Sc. Transl. & Paraphr., xxiv. 1. Say, grows the Rush without the Mire? the Flag without the Stream?
1782. Cowper, Comparison, 9. Streams never flow in vain; where streams abound, How laughs the land with various plenty crown’d!
1833. Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, IV. ii. The broad stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, III. 9. The Lower Nez Percés range upon the Way-lee-way, Immahah, Yenghies, and other of the streams west of the mountains.
1871. Ruskin, Arrows of Chace (1880), II. 160. The first thing the King of any country has to do is to manage the streams of it.
b. Appended to a river-name. Now only poet.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John i. 28. Ofer iordanen ðone stream [L. trans Jordanem].
c. 1205. Lay., 21275. Þa al wes Auene stram mid stele ibrugged.
c. 1275. Moral Ode, 244, in O. E. Misc. Ne may hit quenche no salt water ne auene strem ne sture.
1627. May, Lucan, III. E 6. Now downe the streame of Rodanus the fleet From Stæchas comes to sea.
1808. Byron, ‘Well! thou art happy,’ 35. Oh! where is Lethe’s fabled stream?
1896. A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, xxviii. High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam Islanded in Severn stream.
c. poet. as a type of pure water for drinking.
c. 1205. Lay., 19757. For þe King ne mai on duȝeðe bruken nanes drenches buten cald welles stræm.
1671. Milton, Samson, 546. Nor did the dancing Rubie Sparkling, outpowr’d,… Allure thee from the cool Crystalline stream.
1738. Gray, Propertius, III. v. 47. Famine at feasts, and thirst amid the stream.
d. In plural, the waters (of a river). poet.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxviii. 26. Thy Ryuer … Whose beryall stremys, pleasaunt and preclare, Under thy lusty wallys renneth down.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia, IV. ii. 13. O beautious Tyber, with thine easie streames That glide as smothly as a Parthian shaft.
1627. May, Lucan, III. E 1. And where vnder sea Alphæus sends his streames to Sicily.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, i. A river of considerable magnitude pours its streams through a narrow vale.
e. A rivulet or brook, as contrasted with a river.
1806. Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2), 610. Whithern … a royal borough … seated on the bay of Wigton, where a small stream of water falling into it forms a harbour.
1834. Lytton, Pompeii, III. iii. The Sarnus;—that river, which now has shrunk into a petty stream.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 412/1. Stream, a small land current of water.
2. Flow or current of a river; force, volume or direction of flow.
14[?]. in Parker, Dom. Archit. (1859), III. 42. Then the strenghe of the streme astoned hem stronge.
1508. Dunbar, Golden Targe, 28. Doun throu the ryce a ryuir ran wyth stremys, So lustily agayn thai lykand lemys, That [etc.].
1530. Palsgr., 693/2. I ronne, as the streame of any ryver or water dothe, je cours.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 87. My wife and I … Fastned our selues at eyther end the mast, And floating straight, obedient to the streame, was carried towards Corinth.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXIII. ii. 221. He departed from thence by the very edge of the river bankes, where the streame was big by occasion of other brookes conflowing thither on every side.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, Gothic Wars, II. xxiii. 66. Soon after, the River had the wonted stream and was Navigable again.
1662. R. Venables, Exper. Angler, iii. 37. I could never … discern perfectly where my flie was, the wind and stream carrying it so to and again, that [etc.].
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 460. As in rivers,… whose very essence is incompatible with a real identity: for the essence of a river consists in having a stream, that is, a perpetual change of waters.
1889. Mrs. Pennell, in Century Mag., Aug., 484. For two persons who knew nothing about boats and could not swim, the Thames journey with such a stream running was not promising.
† b. A flood, unrestrained outbreak of waters.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. vii. 27. Cuomon streamas [L. venerunt flumina] & ʓebleuun windas.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1852. Til seuensith tuenti dais war gan Þe streme it stud ai still in-an.
c. A current in the sea. Cf. GULF STREAM.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 684. Quhar als gret stremys ar rynnand,… As Is the raiss of bretangȝe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 402. To rekene wel his tydes, His stremes, and his daungers hym bisides.
1546. in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894), I. 148. Fyndynge the sayde shyppe … dryvynge with the streamys as a wayff and forsaken of all creatures.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 59. It swallyis vp hail schipis, and throuch the violence, and vehement force of contrare workeng of the wais of the sey, quhen ilk streme stryues with vthir, drounes thame in the deip.
1687. Relat. De Chaumont’s Embassy Siam, 17. The Streams were so great, and running sometimes against us, that we were forced oft to cast Anchor; for when the Calm took us, the Streams forcibly carried us a great distance.
a. 1830. J. Rennell, Currents Atlantic Ocean (1832), 22. It [the Equatorial Current] is, doubtless, the most powerful and the longest extended stream of all those in the Atlantics.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, ii. (1856), 17. I have seldom seen the Stream [i.e., the Gulf Stream] so distinct hereabouts.
d. The middle part of a current or tide, as having the greatest force of flow.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xviii. (1495), 448. Comynly the streme hath most fresshe water and most clene grounde, and rennyth moost swyftly than any other parte of the ryuer.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Stream, Anglo-Saxon for flowing water, meaning especially the middle or most rapid part of a tide or current.
† e. To break the stream: to pass through water belonging to the jurisdiction of one port in order to load or unload at another port. Obs.
1496. Maldon (Essex) Court-rolls Bundle 56 No. 4 b. Misericordia xii d. de Willelmo Heyward quod fregit le streyme usque heybregge cum navicula sua.
f. Phrases. (a) Against, with the stream. Often in fig. context (cf. 6), e.g., to strive against the stream, to resist the influences of one’s environment, to oppose prevailing tendencies; to go, sail, swim with the stream, to yield to pressure of circumstances or example. (b) Down, up (the) stream, † downward the stream.
(a) c. 1000. Sax. Lecchd., III. 70. Sing þis … horse on þæt wynstre eare on yrnendum wætre & wend þæt heafod onʓean stream.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 51. [Heo] bi-gon to swimmen forðward mid þe streme.
c. 1205. Lay., 4531. Scipen þer heo funden makede muchul sæ-flot and ferden mid streme.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 93. Riht as a Schip ayein the strem, He routeth with a slepi noise.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xxviii. 582. By the grete strenghte of the fysshes it [sc. the corpse] was taried, and went noo ferder with the streme by the wille of our lorde.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., II. v. (1867), 55. Foly it is to spourne against a pricke, To stryue against the streme, to winche or kicke Against the hard wall.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 195. Turnynge the stemmes or forpartes of their shyppes ageynst the streame.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 54/2. Yet suffer we all these things to passe, and goe with the streame.
1592. Nashe, Strange Newes, Wks. 1904, I. 321. This … is nothing else but to swim with the streame. Ibid. (1593), Christ’s T., 59 b. Because the multitude fauours Religion, he runnes with the streame, and fauours Religion.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 43. I have done it against the streame of my resolution quite.
1668. Dryden, Ess. Dram. Poesie, 57. To tell you, how much in vain it is for you to strive against the stream of the peoples inclination.
1708. Constit. Watermen’s Co., xxix. If any Waterman Rowing with the Tide or Stream, shall neglect to give Notice or Warning … to all Persons Rowing cross or against the Stream or Tide.
1711. Lett. to Sacheverel, 30. There is hardly a Man, who does not swim with the Stream, that has not been … insulted.
1714. Pope, Lett., 25 July, Wks. 1737, II. 115. No man ever rose to any degree of perfection in writing, but thro’ obstinacy and an inveterate resolution against the stream of mankind.
1736. Gray, Tasso, 15. Against the stream the waves secure he trod.
(b) a. 1300. Cursor M., 4780. He sagh a-pon þe water reme Caf flettand dunward þe strem.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 360 b. They brought in vitayle both vp the streame and down [L. aduerso & secundo flumine].
c. 1643. Ld. Herbert, Autobiog. (1824), 133. But the river being deep and strong in that place where he entered it, he was carried down the stream.
g. Naut. In, † upon the stream: see quot. 1863.
1473–4. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 67. His schip and gudis that wes fundin vpon the streme and na man with hir, and was eschetit as the Kingis eschete.
1564. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 280. Thair schippis hes lang tyme lyne on the Streme, and the maist part of thame becum lek. Ibid. (1577), II. 626. For bying and resset of unlauchful gudis upoun the streame.
1860. All Year Round, 28 July, 379/2. She’s in the stream, sir. Yonder she [a yacht] lays.
1863. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 396. A vessel in a river is said to be in the stream, when she is lying off from the shore so that they have to communicate with her by means of boats.
† 3. Used vaguely (sing. and pl.) for: Water, sea. Obs.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. viii. 18. Fara vel gaa ofer luh vel stream [L. trans fretum].
? 11[?]. Charter of Eadweard (A.D. 1066), in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., IV. 193. Tolles and teames, on strande and on streame.
c. 1205. Lay., 3227. Þa olde King … lette heo fo[r]ðe liðen ofer þa stremes. Ibid., 6116. Ofer þaue saltne strem.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1843. On þe streme þe arche can ride.
13[?]. K. Horn, 105 (Harl. MS.). Þare fore þou shalt to streme go.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2508 (Skeat). Yit hath the streem of Sitho [Ovid Sithonis unda] nat y-broght From Athenes the ship.
c. 1470. Gol. & Gaw., 460. Schipmen our the streme thai stithil full straught.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. Prol. 187. On salt stremis wolx Dorynda and Thetis, By rynnand strandis Nymphis and Naedes.
1551. Edw. VI., Lit. Rem. (Roxb.), II. 327. Also the French embassadour was advertised, [of the Flemish ships]; who answered that he thought him sure inough when he came into our streames,—terming it so.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 811/1. Whereas peace was yet betweene England and Scotland, that they contrarie to that, as theeues & pirats, had robbed the kings subiects within his streames.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Ovid’s Elegies, III. v[i]. 81. Tis said the slippery streame held vp her brest.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, X. 419. With fleetes he cuts the Ocean streames.
4. A flow or current of water or other liquid issuing from a source, orifice or vessel. Often hyperbolically in sing. or pl. for a great effusion of blood or tears.
971. Blickl. Hom., 59. Ealle þa ʓewitaþ swa swa wolcn, & swa swa wæteres stream, & ofer þæt nahwær eft ne æteowaþ.
c. 1205. Lay., 30991. Blod orn in þe weiȝe strames swiðe brade.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 112. So largeliche … vleau þet ilke blodi swot … þet te streames vrnen adun to þer eorðe.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 2479. Þet ter rinneð aa mare eoile iliche riue, & strikeð a stream ut of þat stanene þruh.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 5. Þæt tet blod barst ut ant strac adun of hire bodi as stream deð of welle.
a. 1300. Floriz & Bl. (Camb. MS.), 228. In þe tur þer is a welle…. He vrneþ in o pipe of bras … Fram flore in to flore þe strimes vrneþ store.
a. 1300. Havelok, 2687. On þe feld was neuere a polk þat it ne stod of blod so ful þat þe strem ran intil þe heel.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. lxi. (1495), 177. The veynes haue that name, for they ben the wayes … of the stremes of the fletynge of the blood.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10661. Myche watur he weppit … Ouer-flowet his face, fell on his brest With streamys out straght þurgh his stithe helme.
1591. Spenser, Teares of Muses, 230. She lowdly did lament and shrike, Pouring forth streames of teares abundantly.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., V. v. 37. Traitors … That would reduce these bloudy dayes againe, And make poore England weepe in Streames of Blood.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., II. ix. (1635), 144. Certaine pits being digged into the grounde 2 hundred or three hundred feet deep, will discouer many great Streams of Water.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, IX. 470. The Wound pours out a Stream of Wine and Blood.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 23 May 1645. Last of all we came to the labyrinth in which a huge colosse of Jupiter throws out a streame over the garden.
1798. W. Roscoe, trans. Tansillo’s Nurse, I. (1800), 33. Say can ye choose a nurse from brond St. Giles? Heedless what venom taints the stream she gives.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. lxxx. To meditate ’gainst friends the secret blow,… whence life’s warm stream must flow.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 121. The water thus collected, runs in a continued stream out of the box.
1831. G. P. R. James, Phil. Augustus, I. iii. From the strong muscular arm of the knight, a stream of blood was just beginning to flow into a small wooden bowl held by a page.
1855. Poultry Chron., III. 299. Glasses may be prepared … by pouring a thin stream of melted wax down the side of the glass.
1881. Mrs. R. T. Cooke, Somebody’s Neighbors, 84. Many an inarticulate confidence passed between the two while the sharp streams of milk spun and foamed into the pail below.
1899. Lady M. Verney, Verney Mem., IV. 79. Wine and ale … flowed in streams.
1913. Times, 13 Aug., 3/4. Drugs … which will kill the parasite in the blood and lymph streams of the body, have no effect upon the parasites in the brain.
† b. Strength or volume of flow. Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 17. Þat blod sprong out with gret strem.
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 282. We must observe the Colour, Stream and Pulse in Bleeding, and stop as the Colour changes, or the Stream falls.
c. A current or flow of air, gas, electricity.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 211. They find great relief by the stream of air which runs along the rutts.
1753. Henry, in Phil. Trans., XLVIII. 1. A stream of wind instantly ensued, the violence of which nothing could resist.
1777. Cavallo, Electricity, 208. And if the excitation of the cylinder is very powerful, dense streams of fire will proceed from the rubber. Ibid. (1795), (ed. 4), II. 117. With such machines, the power of Electricity should be so regulated, as to apply every degree of it with facility and readiness; beginning with a stream issuing out of a metal point.
1836–41. Brande, Chem. (ed. 5), 491. When a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is passed through it.
a. 1866. B. Taylor, Poems, Voy. Dream, 66. Sweep downward streams of air.
† d. An effluvium. Obs.
1677. Gilpin, Dæmonol. (1867), 83. Those conceits that men have of God, whereby they mould and frame Him in their fancies,… are streams and vapours from this pit. Ibid., 454. These temptations … are like the opening of a sepulchre, which sends forth a poisonous stream which may infect those that loathe and resist it.
a. 1680. Glanvill, Sadducismus, I. v. (1681), 23. Nature for the most part acts by subtile streams and aporrhœa’s of minute particles.
† e. An emanation. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18986. Yur eldrin men sal dremes dreme, And o mi gast þai sal ha streme.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 305. He … was ful unwar that love had his dwellinge Withinne the subtile stremes of hir yen.
c. 1420. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1855. With fantasyes, tryfyls, illusions & dremes, Wyche poetys call Morpheus stremes.
5. transf. An uninterrupted succession of persons, animals, or things, moving constantly in the same direction.
1600. E. Blount, trans. Conestaggio, 289. The which inuested her rounde with a great streame of fire and shotte.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XVI. 359. And then lay ouerthrowne Numbers beneath their axle-trees; who, (lying in flight’s streame) Made th’ after chariots iot and iumpe in driuing ouer them.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, II. xxvii. (1647), 79. Emmanuel the Emperour … fortified his cities in the way, as knowing there needed strong banks where such a stream of people was to passe.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, xviii. He followed the stream of people.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xvii. (1842), 453. A stream of bubbles should be disengaged.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxxii. Streams of people apparently without end poured on and on.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 238. At present a constant stream of emigration runs from Ireland to our great towns.
1851. H. B. Edwardes, Punjab Frontier, I. 206. A stream of soldiers and camp-followers, with all kinds of weapons, rushed in and bore away the wretch.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., vi. 124. Very large flocks of swifts were observed flying over the plains…. I counted a stream of them.
† b. A line, streak. Obs.
1597. Skene, De Verb. Sign., s.v. Actilia, Partial gilt, with spranges or streames of Gold fuilȝie.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 133. I perceived … a stream or streak of a brown stain, the breadth of a pin, in the first joint above the root.
c. Tin-mining. (See quot. 1855.)
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 133. The principal part of the Stream … is intermixed with stones, gravel, and clay.
1855. J. R. L[eifchild], Cornwall Mines, 200. This stream-tin is either met with in a pulverized sandy state, in separate stones called shodes, or in a continued course of stones…. This course is called a stream.
d. In a polar ice-field: see quot.
1817. Scoresby, in Ann. Reg., Chron., 531. It [sc. a collection of pieces of drift-ice] is called a stream when its shape is more of an oblong.
1835. Sir J. Ross, Narr. 2nd Voy., Explan. Terms p. xv. A stream, a number of pieces of ice joining each other in a ridge or in any particular direction.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xiv. (1856). 101. Broken floes running out into ‘streams’ were on all sides of us.
6. fig. in various applications, e.g.: A continuous flow of discourse, words; a continuous series of testimonies, events or influences tending in one direction; an outflow (of beneficence, etc.), an influx (of wealth, revenue).
Wordsworth’s expression stream of tendency (quot. 1814) is often mentioned with ridicule by writers of the first half of the 19th c. It is now in common use.
c. 900. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., 94. Her yrneð up se æftra stream þære godcundan spræce, se cymð of þære rynelan þæs gastlican æsprynges.
1523. Cromwell in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), I. 30. Whereoff there were no dowte but that ryght haboundant stremys shuld from his most liberall magnyfysence be dereuyed into euery parte of this his Realme to the grete Inryching … of … all suche as hereafter showld lyue under hys obeysaunce.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., Ep. Ded. This flowing streame of wordes.
1630. Prynne, Anti-Armin., 177. The constant streame of ancient, of moderne Interpreters haue giuen this orthodox receiued Exposition.
1681. in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874), 14. Charles R. Our soveraigne lord knowing that it belongs to his majesty’s crowne and prerogative royall to confer dignities and titles of honour on his well deserving subjects from whence as from the fountaine all the streames of honour doe flow.
1692. Ray, Disc., III. xi. (1693), 355. I have already given many Testimonies of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and could, if need were, produce many more, the whole stream of them running this way.
1710. Felton, Diss. Classics (1718), 71. For this is to speak or write English in Purity and Perfection, to let the Streams run clear and unmix’d, without taking in other Languages in the Course.
1719. Waterland, Vind. Christ’s Div., Contents, Query xxviii. Whether it be at all probable … that the whole Stream of Christian Writers should mistake in telling us what the Sense of the Church was.
1769. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 189. It must be of infinite importance, that the whole stream of the petitions should, as much as possible, run one way.
1775. Johnson, Tax. no Tyr., 65. The quit-rents … will pour large streams of wealth into the royal coffers.
1814. Wordsw., Excurs., IX. 87. To commune with the invisible world, And hear the mighty stream of tendency Uttering, for elevation of our thought, A clear sonorous voice.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., X. viii. II. 678. Friends are encouraged … to keep up a stream of talk.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. i. 3. The original stream of influence has been turned aside in its course.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ, III. xxiii. (1876), 355. For there is a broad and deep stream of evidence to show [etc.].
1900. J. E. Ellis, in Corr. relat. Polit. Situation S. Africa, 12. We want a stream of facts concerning suppression of telegrams, opening of letters, arbitrary arrests, [etc.].
b. The prevailing direction of opinion or fashion. † Also, the majority, main body (of a class of persons).
1614. Bacon, Charge touching Duels, 12. Yet the streame of vulgar opinion is such, as it imposeth a necessity vpon men of value to conforme them-selues; or else there is no living or looking vpon mens faces.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. i. 6. He reflected upon God in common events, more ordinarily then the general streame of the Clergy did in those dayes.
1669. R. Montagu, in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 427. I find the stream of this Court to run mightily against him.
† c. To give stream to: to set in motion (one’s power). Obs.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, I. 272. Atrides! giue not streame To all thy powre, nor force his prise; but yeeld her still his owne, As all men else do.
† 7. A ray or beam of light; the tail of a comet.
c. 1368. Chaucer, Compl. Pity, 94. Let som streem of your light on me be sene. Ibid. (c. 1391), Astrol., I. § 13. 7. A Square plate perced with a certein holes … to resseyuen the stremes of the sonne by day.
c. 1402. Lydg., Compl. Bl. Knt., 592. His brighte bemes and his stremes al Were in the wawes of the water fal.
1473. Warkw., Chron., 16. The Erle of Oxenfordes men hade uppon them ther lordes lyuery,… whiche was a sterre withe stremys.
c. 1530. Crt. of Love, 849. Now am I caught … With persant stremes of your yēn clere.
a. 1536. Songs, Carols, etc. (E.E.T.S.), 7. The streme shon over Bedlem bryght.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 90. A maruellous gret Comet, quhilk toward the south schot fyrie stremes terrabillie.
1680. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 60. The late comett was seen in other parts,… the starr was but small, yet the stream near 40 degrees in length.
1681. R. Knox, Hist. Rel. Ceylon, 60. In the year 1666 in the month of February, there appeared in this countrey another Comet or stream in the West.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 20 Aug. 1682. This night I saw another comet, neere Cancer, very bright, but the stream not so long as the former.
† 8. A streamer, pennant. Obs.
c. 1440. Ipomydon, 1938. With shippis and sayles manyfolde, There stremes were of fyne golde.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., II. xi. 46 b. [We] put out all the flags, banners, streames, & gailliadets of our gallies.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 643. The violet and purple colour of the amethyst betokened their shipping, sailes and streames.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 18. Out goeth his flag and pendance or streames, also his Colours.
9. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as stream-bank, -bed, -gravel, -ground, -head, -side, water.
1619. Atkinson, Gold Mynes Scot. (Bannatyne Club), 15. To frame or make a long sowgh, or scowring place, into which they bringe the streame water.
c. 1630. Milton, Lett., in Birch, Wks., 1738, I. Life p. v. And here I am come to a streame-head, copious enough to disburden itselfe like Nilus at seven Mouthes into an Ocean.
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 134. The additional trouble or removing back the soil in heaps, and levelling the Stream ground to receive it, is so little.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., V. 39. The sandy streambank and the woodgreen plain.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Rom. Swan’s Nest, i. Little Ellie sits alone … By a stream-side, on the grass.
1857. M. Arnold, Rugby Chapel, 95. The stream-bed descends In the place where the wayfarer once Planted his footstep.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 410. That day he needs must leave the streamside road.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, xi. A coarse low fern on stream-gravel.
1901. Q. Rev., July, 22. The country [Uganda] is almost like a succession of gigantic furrows, and in nearly every furrow there is a ‘sponge,’ swamp, or stream-head.
b. objective, parasynthetic, etc., as stream-bordering, -embroidered, -illumed, -like adjs.
1626. Sandys, Ovid’s Metam., X. 198. Streame-bordering Willow.
c. 1630. Quarles, Solomons Recant., Solil. ii. Wks. (Grosart), II. 175/1. The green-breasted, stream-embroydred Plaines.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., II. iii. 26. Dim twilight-lawns, and stream-illumèd caves.
1820. Wordsw., Misc. Sonn., III. ii. 13. The stream-like windings of that glorious street.
c. Special comb.: stream-anchor, an anchor intermediate in size between the bower and the kedge, used to moor a ship in a sheltered position, and for warping; stream-cable, the cable or hawser of the stream-anchor; stream-current (see quots.); stream-gold, gold in alluvial deposits; stream-ice, pieces of drift ice joining each other in a continuous ridge and following the line of current; stream-lake (see quot. 1867); † stream-net, a net for fishing in running water; stream-ore, ore in alluvial deposits; stream-tide, a spring tide; stream-tin, tin ore found in pebble-like lumps in alluvial beds; hence stream-tinner, one who works this ore; † stream-toll, a toll paid for the use of a stream; stream-tube (see quot. and STREAM-LINE); stream-way, (a) the main current of a river; (b) the shallow bed of a stream, a watercourse; stream-wheel (see quot.); stream-work(s, the operation of washing detrital deposits for metal, esp. tin; a place where this is done.
1627. Capt. Smith, Sea Gram., vii. 29. There is also a *streame Anchor not much bigger [than a kedger], to stemme an easie stream or tide.
1784. J. King, Cook’s 3rd Voy., V. iv. III. 67. We carried out a stream anchor, to enable us to haul the ship abreast of the town, in case of an attack.
1883. Man. Seamanship for Boys, 192. A stream anchor … is used for warping on, in a tideway or calm.
1618. in J. Charnock, Hist. Mar. Archit. (1801), II. 227. Till of late none but the great shipps weare allowed *stream cables.
1644. Manwayring, Seamans Dict., 103. Streame-Cabell is a small cabell, which we ride withall in streames, as rivers, or in faire-weather, when we stop-a-tide.
1805. in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson, VII. 195, note. At daylight got the end of the stream-cable on board the prize, and made sail with her in tow.
a. 1830. J. Rennell, Currents Atlantic Ocean (1832), 21, note. I distinguish two kinds of currents. The one drift or drift current, is the mere effect of a constant or very prevalent wind on the surface-water….
The other, of course, is the *stream current, formed of the accumulated waters of the drift current.
1875. Encycl. Brit., III. 19/1. A current thus directly impelled by wind is termed a ‘drift-current,’ whilst a current whose onward movement is sustained by the vis a tergo of a drift-current is called a ‘stream-current.’
1875. Ure’s Dict. Arts, III. 298. The gold of alluvial districts, called *stream-gold or placer-gold.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. vi. 54. We stood on, boring the loose *stream-ice.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Stream-lake, one which communicates with the sea by means of a river.
1662. Act 14 Chas. II., c. 28 § 1. With any Drift Net Trammel or *Stream Net.
1850. Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc., 365. Among the minerals of importance obtained from Tertiary deposits, we may mention the *stream-ores of gold, platinum, and other rare metals found with these.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., II. 198. A *stream-tide and a strong fresh meeting one another, would throw some of this sediment pretty high.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., xiii. (1860), 136. The common oyster … is sometimes found in the Gairloch … in beds laid bare by the ebb of stream-tides.
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 65. It is more profitably used for melting of *Stream Tin.
1853. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 859. This variety, called ‘stream tin,’ produces the highest price in the market.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xiii. 403. Confused mass of mud, sand, clay, and stones, which has been much disturbed by the *stream-tinners.
1189–99. in Cal. Charter Rolls, IV. 63. Cum *stramtol et watertol et hamsochne.
1892. Minchin, Hydrostatics, etc. 371. If at any point, A,… we describe a very small closed curve and at each point on the contour of this curve we draw the stream line, such as AP, and produce it indefinitely, we obtain a *stream tube.
1911. Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 940/1. The surface formed by all the stream lines passing through a small closed contour is termed a ‘stream tube.’
1822. Scott, Nigel, xxvi. They got into the *stream-way accordingly, and, although heavily laden, began to move down the river with reasonable speed.
1904. Surrey Comet, 17 Sept., 6/7. There would be barges moored alongside the wharf, and there would be a demand for a mooring in the streamway.
1905. W. Holman Hunt, Pre-Raphaelitism, II. 324. Near at hand I came upon the little stream-way.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stream-wheel, an undershot or current wheel.
1586. Camden, Brit., 69. Horum autem stannariorum, siue metallicorum operum duo sunt genera. Alterum Lode-works, alterum *Streame-works, vocant.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, I. 8. Which [scattered ore] being sought and digged, is called Streamworke.
1823. Buckland, Reliq. Diluv., 219. The gold mine that was worked a few years since in the county of Wicklow was simply a stream-work, in which the gold was dispersed in the form of small pebbles and sand, through a bed of gravel.
1882. Rhys, Celtic Britain, ii. 48. Some stream-works of the Bronze Age are known to have been carried out in localities.
