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Stream vs Torrent - What's the difference?

stream | torrent |

As nouns the difference between stream and torrent

is that stream is a small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks while torrent is a violent flow, as of water, lava, etc.; a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.

As verbs the difference between stream and torrent

is that stream is to flow in a continuous or steady manner, like a liquid while torrent is to download in a torrent.

As an adjective torrent is

rolling or rushing in a rapid stream.

stream

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams , the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet:
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-01, author=Nancy Langston, volume=101, issue=1, page=59
    • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The Fraught History of a Watery World , passage=European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams , channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.}}
  • A thin connected passing of a liquid through a lighter gas (e.g. air).
  • Any steady flow or succession of material, such as water, air, radio signal or words.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=10 citation , passage=With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 21, author=Helen Pidd
    • , title=Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis, work=the Guardian citation , passage=A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen.}}
  • (sciences) An umbrella term for all moving waters.
  • (computing) A source or repository of data that can be read or written only sequentially.
  • (UK, education) A division of a school year by perceived ability.

    • Synonyms

    * beck * brook * burn * creek * flow * rill

    Related terms

    * live stream * streamer * river * jet stream * Gulf Stream

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To flow in a continuous or steady manner, like a liquid.
  • * Milton
    • beneath those banks where rivers stream
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
    • When I came to myself I was lying, not in the outer blackness of the Mohune vault, not on a floor of sand; but in a bed of sweet clean linen, and in a little whitewashed room, through the window of which the spring sunlight streamed .
  • To extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind.
    • A flag streams in the wind.
  • (Internet) To push continuous data (e.g. music) from a server to a client computer while it is being used (played) on the client.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    torrent

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) torrent

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A violent flow, as of water, lava, etc.; a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.
  • * (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
    • The roaring torrent is deep and wide.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.
  • (figurative) A large amount or stream of something.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 21, author=Helen Pidd, work=the Guardian
    • , title= Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis , passage=A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen.}}
  • * {{quote-book, passage=The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, / The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, / The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor ...
    • , title=, author=Alfred Noyes, year=1906}}
    Derived terms
    * torrential * torrentiality * torrentially

    See also

    * barrage * inundate * deluge * torrential

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Rolling or rushing in a rapid stream.
  • * Milton
    • Waves of torrent fire.

    Etymology 2

    From BitTorrent and the file extension it uses for metadata (.torrent).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Internet, file sharing) A set of files obtainable through a peer-to-peer network, especially BitTorrent.
    • I got a torrent of the complete works of Shakespeare the other day; I'm not sure why.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (internet slang) To download in a torrent.
    • The video rental place didn't have the film I was after, but I managed to torrent it.
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