tides

Noun

tide (plural tides)

1. The daily fluctuation in the level of the sea caused by the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun.
   • The Bristol Channel has some of the world's largest tides.
2. The associated flow of water.
   • A lot of driftwood was brought in on the tide.
3. Any similar gravitational effect on Earth or other body.
   • As well as sea tides, there are much smaller land tides.
4. A high-volume flow, literal or figurative; a current or flood.
   • The sewer burst, and a tide of sewage poured into nearby properties.

   Synonyms:

   inflood, inflooding, inflow, inflowing, influx

5. (figuratively) The tendency or direction of causes, influences, or events; course; current.
   • The tide of public opinion has turned.
6. (obsolete, except in liturgy) Time, notably anniversary, period or season linked to an ecclesiastical feast.
   • [...] and rest their weary limbs a tide.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza xxix

See all 14 meanings of tide