Current

current
    adj 1: 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: {current}, {electric current}]
    2: a steady flow of a fluid (usually from natural causes); "the
       raft floated downstream on the current"; "he felt a stream of
       air"; "the hose ejected a stream of water" [syn: {current},
       {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},
       {current}]
    

Current \Cur"rent\, n. [Cf. F. courant. See {Current}, a. ]
   [1913 Webster]
   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Two such silver currents, when they join,
            Do glorify the banks that bound them in. --Shak.
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            The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents,
            whose direction . . . the navigator should know.
                                                  --Nichol.
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   2. General course; ordinary procedure; progressive and
      connected movement; as, the current of time, of events, of
      opinion, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

   {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}.
        [1913 Webster]
    

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]
      [1913 Webster]

            Like the current fire, that renneth
            Upon a cord.                          --Gower.
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            To chase a creature that was current then
            In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.
                                                  --Tennyson.
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   2. Now passing, as time; as, the current month.
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   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.
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            That there was current money in Abraham's time is
            past doubt.                           --Arbuthnot.
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            Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            His current value, which is less or more as men have
            occasion for him.                     --Grew.
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   4. Commonly estimated or acknowledged.
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   5. Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic;
      passable.
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            O Buckingham, now do I play the touch
            To try if thou be current gold indeed. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Account current}. See under {Account}.

   {Current money}, lawful money. --Abbott.
      [1913 Webster]
    

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)
    

CURRENT, merc. law. A term used to express present time; the current month; 
i.e. the present month. Price current, is the ordinary price at the time 
spoken of. A printed paper, containing such prices, is also called a price 
current. 
     2. Current, in another sense, signifies that which is readily received; 
as, current money. 
    

360 Moby Thesaurus words for "current":
      AC, Brownian movement, DC, Zeitgeist, a la mode,
      absorption current, accepted, accessible, accidental, accompanying,
      accustomed, active current, actual, ado, advance, advised,
      affirmed, affluence, afflux, affluxion, afloat, afoot, aim,
      air current, all the rage, all the thing, alternating current,
      angular motion, announced, as is, ascending, ascent, au courant,
      au fait, average, aware, axial motion, azimuth, backflowing,
      backing, backward motion, bandied about, base current, bearing,
      being, bent, besetting, broadcast, brought to notice,
      bruited about, career, cathode current, circulated, circumstantial,
      climbing, coeval, collector current, common, common knowledge,
      common property, commonly known, commonplace, concourse,
      conduction current, confluence, conflux, conformable,
      consuetudinary, contemporaneous, contemporary, convection current,
      conventional, course, crosscurrent, current of air, customary,
      cycle, declared, defluxion, delta current, descending, descent,
      dielectric displacement current, diffused, direct current,
      direction, direction line, displacement current, disseminated,
      distributed, doing, dominant, downdraft, downflow, downpour,
      downward motion, draft, drift, driftage, ebbing, eddy current,
      electric current, electric stream, electron cloud, electron flow,
      electron gas, electron stream, emission current, epidemic,
      established, eventuating, everyday, exciting current, existent,
      existing, extant, fall wind, familiar, fashionable, flight, flood,
      flow, flow of air, flowing, fluency, flux, following wind,
      forward motion, free alternating current, fresh, galvanic current,
      generally accepted, glacial movement, going about, going around,
      going on, gush, habitual, hackneyed, happening, head wind, heading,
      helmsmanship, high-frequency current, hip, household, idle current,
      immanent, immediate, in being, in circulation, in effect,
      in existence, in fashion, in force, in hand, in print, in style,
      in the air, in the know, in the news, in the wind, in vogue,
      incidental, inclination, indraft, induced current,
      induction current, inflow, informed, inhalation, inrush,
      inspiration, instant, ionization current, jetstream, juice,
      katabatic wind, known, latest, lay, lie, line, line of direction,
      line of march, living, low-frequency current, made public,
      magnetizing current, main current, mainstream, mill run, millrace,
      mod, modern, modish, monsoon, motion, mounting, movement,
      movement of air, multiphase current, navigation, new, newfashioned,
      normal, normative, notorious, oblique motion, obtaining,
      occasional, occurring, on, on foot, ongoing, onrush, onward course,
      open, ordinary, orientation, outflow, output current, pandemic,
      passage, passing, piloting, plate current, platitudinous, plunging,
      point, popular, posted, predominant, predominating, prescribed,
      prescriptive, present, present-age, present-day, present-time,
      prevailing, prevalent, proclaimed, progress, propagated,
      proverbial, public, published, pulsating direct current, quarter,
      race, radial motion, rampant, random motion, range,
      reactive current, received, reflowing, refluence, reflux, regnant,
      regression, regular, regulation, reigning, reported, resultant,
      retrogression, rife, rising, rotary current, routine, ruling,
      rumored, run, running, rush, set, sideward motion, simultaneous,
      single-phase alternating current, sinking, smart, soaring,
      space charge, spate, spread, standard, stated, steerage, steering,
      stereotyped, sternway, stock, stray current, stream, stream of air,
      stylish, subsiding, subsistent, subsisting, surge, swing,
      tail wind, taking place, talked about, talked-about, talked-of,
      telecast, televised, tendency, tenor, that be, that is,
      the general tendency, the main course, thermionic current,
      thermoelectric current, three-phase alternating current, tide,
      time spirit, time-honored, tone, topical, track, traditional,
      traject, trajet, trend, trendy, trite, truistic, under the sun,
      under way, undercurrent, undertow, universal, universally admitted,
      universally recognized, up-to-date, up-to-datish, up-to-the-minute,
      updraft, upward motion, usual, vernacular, voltaic current,
      water flow, watt current, way, well-kenned, well-known,
      well-recognized, well-understood, whispered, whispered about,
      widely known, widespread, wind, wonted