stream

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A flow of water in a channel or bed, as a brook, rivulet, or small river.
• noun A steady current in such a flow of water.
• noun A steady current of a fluid.
• noun A large amount or number moving or occurring in steady succession: synonym: flow.
• noun A trend, course, or drift, as of opinion, thought, or history.
• noun A beam or ray of light.
• noun Chiefly British A course of study to which students are tracked.
• noun Computers A steady flow of data.
• intransitive verb To flow in a stream or current.
• intransitive verb To pour forth or give off a stream; flow.
• intransitive verb To move or arrive in large numbers; pour.
• intransitive verb To extend, wave, or float outward.
• intransitive verb To leave a continuous trail of light.
• intransitive verb To give forth a continuous stream of light rays or beams; shine.
• intransitive verb To emit, discharge, or exude (a body fluid, for example).
• intransitive verb Computers To transmit (audio or video content), especially over the Internet, in small, sequential packets that permit the content to be played continuously as it is being received and without saving it to a hard disk.
• idiom (on stream) In or into operation or production.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A course of running water; a river, rivulet, or brook.
• noun A steady current in a river or in the sea; especially, the middle or most rapid part of a current or tide: as, to row against the stream; the Gulf Stream.
• noun A flow; a flowing; that which flows in or out, as a liquid or a fluid, air or light.
• noun Anything issuing from a source and moving or flowing continuously: as, a stream of words; a stream of sand; a stream of people.
• noun A continued course or current; the course or current of affairs or events; current; drift.
• noun A rift: so called by English anglers.
• noun Synonyms and
• noun Stream, Current, Eddy. All rivers and brooks are streams, and have currents. An eddy is a counter-current, a current contrary to the main direction.
• To move or run in a continuous current; flow continuously. See streaming, n., 2.
• To move or proceed continuously and uniformly, or in unbroken succession.
• To pour out a stream; also, to throw off a stream from the surface: as, streaming eyes; a streaming umbrella.
• To move swiftly and continuously, as a ray of light; streak.
• To stretch out in a line; hang or float at full length: as, streaming hair.
• To discharge in a stream; cause to flow; pour out.
• To cause to float out; wave.
• To stripe or ray. See streaming, a.
• In mining, to wash, as the superficial detritus, especially that accumulated in the beds of rivers, for the purpose of separating any valuable ore which it may contain. See placer.
• In dyeing, to wash in running water, as silk, before putting in the dye.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To issue or flow in a stream; to flow freely or in a current, as a fluid or whatever is likened to fluids.
• intransitive verb To pour out, or emit, a stream or streams.
• intransitive verb To issue in a stream of light; to radiate.
• intransitive verb To extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind.
• transitive verb To send forth in a current or stream; to cause to flow; to pour.
• transitive verb To mark with colors or embroidery in long tracts.
• transitive verb To unfurl.
• transitive verb (Naut.) See under Buoy.
• noun 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
• noun A beam or ray of light.
• noun Anything issuing or moving with continued succession of parts.
• noun A continued current or course.
• noun Current; drift; tendency; series of tending or moving causes.