fluid
nounadjectivecommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈfluːɪd//
- United Kingdom//ˈflʉwɪd//
- United States//ˈflu.ɪd//
- Australia//ˈflʉːɪd//
- Scotland//ˈflʉ.ɪd//
Any substance which can flow with relative ease, tends to assume the shape of its container, and obeys Bernoulli's principle; a liquid, gas or plasma.
noun
- 1
Any substance which can flow with relative ease, tends to assume the shape of its container, and obeys Bernoulli's principle; a liquid, gas or plasma.
An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.
- 2
A liquid (as opposed to a solid or gas).
fluid inclusion Petrology, a tiny fluid- or gas-filled cavity in an igneous rock. 1-100 micrometers in diameter, formed by the entrapment of a fluid, typically that from which the rock crystallized.
The Doctor: Get a good night's sleep and drink plenty of fluids. / Kes: Fluids? / The Doctor: Everybody should drink plenty of fluids.
For studying interfaces between solid and another solid, fluid, or gas, a sample can be oriented with its reflecting surface(s) vertical (and with the scattering plane, as defined by nominal incident and reflected wavevectors, horizontal).
Tenderness: is the lump tender? Composition: is the mass solid, fluid or gas?
- 3
Intravenous fluids.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti? Latin fluō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin fluidusder. Middle English fluid English fluid From Middle English fluid, from Latin fluidus (“flowing; fluid”), from Latin fluō (“to flow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to swell; surge; overflow; run”). Akin to Ancient Greek φλύειν (phlúein, “to swell; overflow”). Not related to English flow, which is a native, inherited word from *plew-, but is distantly related from English bleat.
adjective
- 1
Of or relating to fluid.
- 2
In a state of flux; subject to change.
Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.
- 3
Moving smoothly, or giving the impression of a liquid in motion.
Tom of the fluid pelvis, undulating about the living room in defiance of Michael's taboo on sensuality.
- 4
Convertible into cash.
- 5
rareGenderfluid.
Oh, Loki made sure of that. My mortal parents blamed him for the way I was, for being fluid.
As do renewals in genres such as romcoms and teen movies, which have updated sexist, heteronormative tropes to reflect audiences’ fluid, inclusive, queer realities.
Forms
- plural
- fluids
- comparative
- more fluid
- superlative
- most fluid
fluid · Any substance which can flow with relative ease, tends to assume the shape of its container, and obeys Bernoulli's principle; a liquid, gas or plasma.
fluke · A lucky or improbable occurrence that could probably never be…Fluke · A surname.flush · A group of birds that have suddenly started up from…