Current

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Current \Cur"rent\, n. [Cf. F. courant. See {Current}, a. ]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A flowing or passing; onward motion. Hence: A body of
        fluid moving continuously in a certain direction; a
        stream; esp., the swiftest part of it; as, a current of
        water or of air; that which resembles a stream in motion;


        as, a current of electricity.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Two such silver currents, when they join,
              Do glorify the banks that bound them in. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents,
              whose direction . . . the navigator should know.
                                                    --Nichol.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. General course; ordinary procedure; progressive and
        connected movement; as, the current of time, of events, of
        opinion, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Current meter}, an instrument for measuring the velocity,
        force, etc., of currents.
  
     {Current mill}, a mill driven by a current wheel.
  
     {Current wheel}, a wheel dipping into the water and driven by
        the current of a stream or by the ebb and flow of the
        tide.
  
     Syn: Stream; course. See {Stream}.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Current \Cur"rent\ (k?r"rent), a. [OE. currant, OF. curant,
     corant, p. pr. of curre, corre, F. courre, courir, to run,
     from L. currere; perh. akin to E. horse. Cf. {Course},
     {Concur}, {Courant}, {Coranto}.]
     1. Running or moving rapidly. [Archaic]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Like the current fire, that renneth
              Upon a cord.                          --Gower.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To chase a creature that was current then
              In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.
                                                    --Tennyson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Now passing, as time; as, the current month.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Passing from person to person, or from hand to hand;
        circulating through the community; generally received;
        common; as, a current coin; a current report; current
        history.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              That there was current money in Abraham's time is
              past doubt.                           --Arbuthnot.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current.
                                                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His current value, which is less or more as men have
              occasion for him.                     --Grew.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Commonly estimated or acknowledged.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic;
        passable.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              O Buckingham, now do I play the touch
              To try if thou be current gold indeed. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Account current}. See under {Account}.
  
     {Current money}, lawful money. --Abbott.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  current
       adj : occurring in or belonging to the present time; "current
             events"; "the current topic"; "current negotiations";
             "current psychoanalytic theories"; "the ship's current
             position" [ant: {noncurrent}]
       n 1: a flow of electricity through a conductor; "the current was
            measured in amperes" [syn: {electric current}]
       2: a steady flow (usually from natural causes); "the raft
          floated downstream on the current"; "he felt a stream of
          air" [syn: {stream}]
       3: dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive
          events or ideas; "two streams of development run through
          American history"; "stream of consciousness"; "the flow of
          thought"; "the current of history" [syn: {stream}, {flow}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  360 Moby Thesaurus words for "current":
     AC, Brownian movement, DC, Zeitgeist, a la mode,
     absorption current, accepted, accessible, accidental, accompanying,
     accustomed, active current, actual, ado, advance, advised,
     affirmed, affluence, afflux, affluxion, afloat, afoot, aim,
     air current, all the rage, all the thing, alternating current,
     angular motion, announced, as is, ascending, ascent, au courant,
     au fait, average, aware, axial motion, azimuth, backflowing,
     backing, backward motion, bandied about, base current, bearing,
     being, bent, besetting, broadcast, brought to notice,
     bruited about, career, cathode current, circulated, circumstantial,
     climbing, coeval, collector current, common, common knowledge,
     common property, commonly known, commonplace, concourse,
     conduction current, confluence, conflux, conformable,
     consuetudinary, contemporaneous, contemporary, convection current,
     conventional, course, crosscurrent, current of air, customary,
     cycle, declared, defluxion, delta current, descending, descent,
     dielectric displacement current, diffused, direct current,
     direction, direction line, displacement current, disseminated,
     distributed, doing, dominant, downdraft, downflow, downpour,
     downward motion, draft, drift, driftage, ebbing, eddy current,
     electric current, electric stream, electron cloud, electron flow,
     electron gas, electron stream, emission current, epidemic,
     established, eventuating, everyday, exciting current, existent,
     existing, extant, fall wind, familiar, fashionable, flight, flood,
     flow, flow of air, flowing, fluency, flux, following wind,
     forward motion, free alternating current, fresh, galvanic current,
     generally accepted, glacial movement, going about, going around,
     going on, gush, habitual, hackneyed, happening, head wind, heading,
     helmsmanship, high-frequency current, hip, household, idle current,
     immanent, immediate, in being, in circulation, in effect,
     in existence, in fashion, in force, in hand, in print, in style,
     in the air, in the know, in the news, in the wind, in vogue,
     incidental, inclination, indraft, induced current,
     induction current, inflow, informed, inhalation, inrush,
     inspiration, instant, ionization current, jetstream, juice,
     katabatic wind, known, latest, lay, lie, line, line of direction,
     line of march, living, low-frequency current, made public,
     magnetizing current, main current, mainstream, mill run, millrace,
     mod, modern, modish, monsoon, motion, mounting, movement,
     movement of air, multiphase current, navigation, new, newfashioned,
     normal, normative, notorious, oblique motion, obtaining,
     occasional, occurring, on, on foot, ongoing, onrush, onward course,
     open, ordinary, orientation, outflow, output current, pandemic,
     passage, passing, piloting, plate current, platitudinous, plunging,
     point, popular, posted, predominant, predominating, prescribed,
     prescriptive, present, present-age, present-day, present-time,
     prevailing, prevalent, proclaimed, progress, propagated,
     proverbial, public, published, pulsating direct current, quarter,
     race, radial motion, rampant, random motion, range,
     reactive current, received, reflowing, refluence, reflux, regnant,
     regression, regular, regulation, reigning, reported, resultant,
     retrogression, rife, rising, rotary current, routine, ruling,
     rumored, run, running, rush, set, sideward motion, simultaneous,
     single-phase alternating current, sinking, smart, soaring,
     space charge, spate, spread, standard, stated, steerage, steering,
     stereotyped, sternway, stock, stray current, stream, stream of air,
     stylish, subsiding, subsistent, subsisting, surge, swing,
     tail wind, taking place, talked about, talked-about, talked-of,
     telecast, televised, tendency, tenor, that be, that is,
     the general tendency, the main course, thermionic current,
     thermoelectric current, three-phase alternating current, tide,
     time spirit, time-honored, tone, topical, track, traditional,
     traject, trajet, trend, trendy, trite, truistic, under the sun,
     under way, undercurrent, undertow, universal, universally admitted,
     universally recognized, up-to-date, up-to-datish, up-to-the-minute,
     updraft, upward motion, usual, vernacular, voltaic current,
     water flow, watt current, way, well-kenned, well-known,
     well-recognized, well-understood, whispered, whispered about,
     widely known, widespread, wind, wonted
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  current
       
           The quantity of {charge} per unit time, measured
          in Amperes (Amps, A).  By historical convention, the sign of
          current is positive for currents flowing from positive to
          negative {potential}, but experience indicates that electrons
          are negatively charged and flow in the opposite direction.
       
          (1995-10-05)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CURRENT, merc. law. A term used to express present time; the current month; 
  i.e. the present month. Price current, is the ordinary price at the time 
  spoken of. A printed paper, containing such prices, is also called a price 
  current. 
       2. Current, in another sense, signifies that which is readily received; 
  as, current money.