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Wave vs Flow - What's the difference?

wave | flow |

In intransitive terms the difference between wave and flow

is that wave is to have an undulating or wavy form while flow is to discharge excessive blood from the uterus.

In transitive terms the difference between wave and flow

is that wave is to signal (someone or something) with a waving movement while flow is to cover with varnish.

wave

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) waven, from (etyl) .

Verb

(wav)
  • (lb) To move back and forth repeatedly.
  • :
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Tom Fordyce, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , passage=But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.}}
  • (lb) To wave one’s hand in greeting or departure.
  • :
  • (lb) To have an undulating or wavy form.
  • (lb) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea
  • (lb) To produce waves to the hair.
  • *
  • *:There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved', put in curlers overnight, ' waved with hot tongs;.
  • To swing and miss at a pitch.
  • :
  • (lb) To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
  • :
  • (lb) To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
  • To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm.
  • To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.
  • :(Sir Thomas Browne)
  • To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Look, with what courteous action / It waves you to a more removed ground.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:She spoke, and bowing waved / Dismissal.
  • Derived terms
    * wave off * waver * wave the white flag

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) *.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A moving disturbance in the level of a body of water; an undulation.
  • The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore.
  • (physics) A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
  • Gravity waves , while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.
  • A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
  • Her hair had a nice wave to it.
    sine wave
  • (figuratively) A sudden unusually large amount of something that is temporarily experienced.
  • A wave of shoppers stampeded through the door when the store opened for its Christmas discount special.
    A wave of retirees began moving to the coastal area.
    A wave of emotion overcame her when she thought about her son who was killed in battle.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 11 , author=Jonathan Stevenson , title=West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Foster had been left unsighted by Scott Dann's positioning at his post, but the goalkeeper was about to prove his worth to Birmingham by keeping them in the game with a series of stunning saves as West Ham produced waves' after ' wave of attack in their bid to find a crucial second goal.}}
  • A sideway movement of the hand(s).
  • With a wave of the hand.
  • A group activity in a crowd imitating a wave going through water, where people in successive parts of the crowd stand and stretch upward, then sit. Usually referred to as "the wave"
  • Derived terms
    * Elliott wave * make waves * Mexican wave * waveband * wave field synthesis * wave function * waveguide * wavelength * wavelet * wave mechanics * wave number * wave packet * wave-particle duality * wave ski * wave train * wave vector * wavy
    Synonyms
    * (an undulation) (l)

    Etymology 3

    See waive.

    flow

    English

    Noun

  • A movement in people or things with a particular way in large numbers or amounts
  • The movement of a real or figurative fluid.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}
  • The rising movement of the tide.
  • Smoothness or continuity.
  • The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.
  • (psychology) The state of being at one with.
  • Menstruation fluid
  • Antonyms

    * (movement of the tide) ebb

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To move as a fluid from one position to another.
  • Rivers flow from springs and lakes.
    Tears flow from the eyes.
  • To proceed; to issue forth.
  • Wealth flows from industry and economy.
  • * Milton
  • Those thousand decencies that daily flow / From all her words and actions.
  • To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.
  • The writing is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow .
  • * Dryden
  • Virgil is sweet and flowing in his hexameters.
  • To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.
  • * Bible, Joel iii. 18
  • In that day the hills shall flow with milk.
  • * Prof. Wilson
  • the exhilaration of a night that needed not the influence of the flowing bowl
  • To hang loosely and wave.
  • a flowing''' mantle; '''flowing locks
  • * A. Hamilton
  • the imperial purple flowing in his train
  • To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb .
  • The tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The river hath thrice flowed , no ebb between.
  • (computing) To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.
  • To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
  • To cover with varnish.
  • To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.
  • Anagrams

    * *