Cur″rent, n. [Cf. F. courant. See Current, a.]
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. 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.
Syn. — Stream; course. See Stream.