fluō

Meaning

1. to flow, stream, pour
   cum fluvius Atratus sanguine fluxitWhen the river Atratus flowed with blood45 BCE, Cicero, De divinatione 1.93
   Fluit aes rīvīs aurīque metallum, vulnificusque chalybs vastā fornāce liquēscit.Bronze and golden ore flowed in streams, and steel, that deals wounds, melted in a vast furnace.29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 8.445
2. to proceed, spring, go forth
   Etenim, ut ait Homerus, ‘ex eius lingua melle dulcior fluebat oratio’For, as Homer says, ‘a speech sweeter than honey was flowing from his tongue’106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, De Senectute 10.31
   In Herodoto vero cum omnia, ut ego quidem sentio, leniter fluunt2002 translation by Donald A. Russell In Herodotus, however, not only does everything (or so I think) flow smoothlyc. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilianus, The Orator's Education 9.4.18
3. to spread
   Pythagorae autem doctrina cum longe lateque flueret1927 translation by J. E. King Now, as the teaching of Pythagoras spread far and widec. 45 BCE, Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes
4. to vanish, disappear, wilt
   Pompeio Sullaque et Mario fluentem procumbentemque rem publicam Romanam restituentibus2025 translation by A. J. Woodman as Pompeius, Sulla and Marius restored the health of the wilting and prostrate Roman commonwealthVelleius Paterculus, History 2.16
5. to move in a lax, unrestrained, loose manner
   Haec movet arte latus, tunicisque fluentibus auras Accipit1929 translation by J. H. Mozley This woman sways her side with skill, and welcomes the breeze with flowing robe2 CE, Ovidius, Ars Amatoria 3.301-302
6. to be weak, enervated, effeminate, debauched, spineless
   Campani magis nomen ad praesidium sociorum quam vires cum attulissent, fluentes luxu ab duratis usu armorum, in Sidicino pulsi agro in se deinde molem omnem belli verterunt1924 translation by B. O. Foster The Campanians had brought reputation rather than real strength to the defence of their allies; enervated by luxury, they had encountered a people made hardy by the use of arms, and being defeated in the territory of the Sidicini, had then drawn down the full force of the war upon themselves.27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 7.29
   inde soluti ac fluentes non accipiunt ex scholis mala ista, sed in scholas adferunt.The dissolute and debauched do not take these vices from the schools, but bring them therec. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilianus, The Orator's Education 1.2.8

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Conjugation conjugation 3

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

res fluit ad interregnum

things seem tending towards an interregnum.

oratio aequabiliter fluens

an easy, fluent style.

haec ex eodem fonte fluunt, manant

these things have the same origin.

in rebus prosperis et ad voluntatem fluentibus

when life runs smoothly.

Pythagorae doctrina longe lateque fluxit (Tusc. 4. 1. 2)

Pythagoras' principles were widely propagated.

Origins

Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti? Latin fluō Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH- (“to overflow”), possibly an extension of *bʰleh₁- (“to swell, blow”). The Latin form may have developed from earlier *flowō via vowel reduction (which was regular only in non-initial syllables, but may have been introduced to the simple verb by analogy with its compounds) from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleuH-(e/o). Alternatively, it may go back to Proto-Italic *flūō, from earlier *flūjō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti. Cognate with Ancient Greek φλέω (phléō, “to abound”), φλύω (phlúō, “to boil over”). Unrelated to English flow, despite phonological and semantic similarity.

Related words