5 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Current \Cur"rent\, n. [Cf. F. courant. See {Current}, a. ]
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.
Two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify
the banks that bound them in. --Shak.
The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents,
whose direction . . . the navigator should know.
--Nichol.
2. General course; ordinary procedure; progressive and
connected movement; as, the current of time, of events, of
opinion, etc.
{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}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
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]
Like the current fire, that renneth Upon a cord.
--Gower.
To chase a creature that was current then In these
wild woods, the hart with golden horns. --Tennyson.
2. Now passing, as time; as, the current month.
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.
That there was current money in Abraham's time is
past doubt. --Arbuthnot.
Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current.
--Shak.
His current value, which is less or more as men have
occasion for him. --Grew.
4. Commonly estimated or acknowledged.
5. Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic;
passable.
O Buckingham, now do I play the touch To try if thou
be current gold indeed. --Shak.
{Account current}. See under {Account}.
{Current money}, lawful money. --Abbott.
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 The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
current
<electronics> 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 eng-fra [engfra]:
current
[kʌrənt]
actuel
courant
courant