CURRENT

Definitions

1. 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. 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.