flux

n. [ L. fluxus, fr. fluere, fluxum, to flow: cf.F. flux. See Fluent, and cf. 1st & 2d Floss, Flush, n., 6. ] 1. The act of flowing; a continuous moving on or passing by, as of a flowing stream; constant succession; change. [ 1913 Webster ]

By the perpetual flux of the liquids, a great part of them is thrown out of the body. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her image has escaped the flux of things,
And that same infant beauty that she wore
Is fixed upon her now forevermore. Trench. [ 1913 Webster ]

Languages, like our bodies, are in a continual flux. Felton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The setting in of the tide toward the shore, -- the ebb being called the reflux. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The state of being liquid through heat; fusion. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Chem. & Metal.) Any substance or mixture used to promote the fusion of metals or minerals, as alkalies, borax, lime, fluorite. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ White flux is the residuum of the combustion of a mixture of equal parts of niter and tartar. It consists chiefly of the carbonate of potassium, and is white. -- Black flux is the ressiduum of the combustion of one part of niter and two of tartar, and consists essentially of a mixture of potassium carbonate and charcoal. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Med.) (a) A fluid discharge from the bowels or other part; especially, an excessive and morbid discharge; as, the bloody flux or dysentery. See Bloody flux. (b) The matter thus discharged. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Physics) The quantity of a fluid that crosses a unit area of a given surface in a unit of time. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. fluxus, p. p. of fluere. See Flux, n. ] Flowing; unstable; inconstant; variable. [ 1913 Webster ]

The flux nature of all things here. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of fluxing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. LL. fluxibilitas fluidity. ] The quality of being fluxible. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf.LL. fluxibilis fluid, OF. fluxible. ] Capable of being melted or fused, as a mineral. Holland.

-- Flux"i*ble*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

a. [ L. fluxilis, a., fluid. ] Fluxible. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State of being fluxible.[ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. fluxion. ] The act of flowing. Cotgrave. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The matter that flows. Wiseman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fusion; the running of metals into a fluid state. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Med.) An unnatural or excessive flow of blood or fluid toward any organ; a determination. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A constantly varying indication. [ 1913 Webster ]

Less to be counted than the fluxions of sun dials. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Math.) (a) The infinitely small increase or decrease of a variable or flowing quantity in a certain infinitely small and constant period of time; the rate of variation of a fluent; an incerement; a differential. (b) pl. A method of analysis developed by Newton, and based on the conception of all magnitudes as generated by motion, and involving in their changes the notion of velocity or rate of change. Its results are the same as those of the differential and integral calculus, from which it differs little except in notation and logical method. [ 1913 Webster ]