ENGLISH
REFERENCE

stream

n. · v.
US //ˈstɹim// UK //stɹˈiːm// stream
  1. 1 small river (n.)
    A2 Elementary

    a small, narrow river.

    a small, natural watercourse, typically smaller than a river.

    Example

    The children spent the afternoon splashing in the shallow stream behind the house.

    Example

    The mountain stream was crystal clear, flowing rapidly over smooth stones and fallen branches after the spring thaw.
  2. 2 steady flow (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    a continuous flow of things or people.

    a steady, continuous succession or flow of material, objects, or people.

    Example

    A steady stream of visitors arrived at the museum all morning.

    Example

    The factory produced a constant stream of smoke that drifted across the valley, much to the concern of local environmentalists.
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  1. 3 digital media (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Computing

    video or music that you watch or listen to directly from the internet.

    digital data, such as audio or video, transmitted over a network for immediate consumption without prior downloading.

    Example

    The live stream of the concert had over a million viewers.

    Example

    The quality of the video stream depends heavily on the stability of your local network connection and available bandwidth.
  2. 4 school ability group (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate British English Education

    a group of students of the same age and ability level.

    a division of students within a school year based on their perceived academic ability.

    Example

    He was placed in the top stream for mathematics because of his high test scores.

    Example

    The school's policy of placing students into different streams has been a subject of intense debate among parents and educators.
  3. 5 to flow (v.)
    B1 Intermediate

    to move in a continuous and steady way.

    to flow or move in a continuous, steady manner; often used for liquids, light, or people.

    Example

    Sunlight streamed through the open window and lit up the room.

    Example

    Tears streamed down her face as she watched the final scene of the moving film.
  4. 6 to play media online (v.)
    B1 Intermediate Computing

    to watch or listen to something on the internet without downloading it.

    to transmit or receive data over the internet as a continuous, real-time flow.

    Example

    I prefer to stream movies rather than buying physical discs.

    Example

    The platform allows users to stream high-definition content directly to their mobile devices with minimal buffering.
Origin

From Middle English streem, strem, from Old English strēam, from Proto-West Germanic straum, from Proto-Germanic straumaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European srowmos (“river”), from Proto-Indo-European srew- (“to flow”). Doublet of rheum. Cognate with Scots strem, streme, streym (“stream, river”), North Frisian Stroom, struum (“stream”), West Frisian stream (“stream”), Low German Stroom (“stream”), Dutch stroom (“current, flow, stream”), German Strom (“current, stream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål strøm (“current, stream, flow”), Norwegian Nynorsk straum (“current, stream, flow”), Swedish ström (“current, stream, flow”), Faroese streymur (“stream”), Icelandic straumur (“current, stream, torrent, flood”), Ancient Greek ῥεῦμα (rheûma, “stream, flow”), Lithuanian srovė (“current, stream”) Polish strumień (“stream”), Welsh ffrwd (“stream, current”), Scottish Gaelic sruth (“stream”).

Word family

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