current

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

To chase a creature that was current then
In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Now passing, as time; as, the current month. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Commonly estimated or acknowledged. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic; passable. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents, whose direction . . . the navigator should know. Nichol. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]