See Also: TIDE(law)
Tide(finance)
Gut-tide(dictionary)
tide(1)(dictionary)
tide(2)(dictionary)
tide(dictionary)
red tide(encyclopedia)
tide(encyclopedia)
low tide(dictionary)
tide 2,(dictionary)

tide(1) (iou)



tide noun.
[Old English tid = Old Saxon tid (Dutch tijd), Old High German zit (German Zeit), Old Norse tie, from Germanic word rel. to TIME noun. Branch II prob. after Middle Low German (ge)tide, tie, Middle Dutch ghetide (Dutch (ge)tij) development of sense 'fixed time'.]
I. Time.
= TIME noun 1, 2. obsolete exc. Scot. & dial. OE.
spec. = HOUR 1. Long obsolete exc. Hist. OE.
a. = TIME noun 11, 12. arch. or poet. OE.
Wordsworth We will see itjoyful tide! Some day..The mountain will we cross.
b. = TIME noun 14. arch. OE.
A definite point, time, or season in a day, year, life, etc. Formerly also spec. = HOUR 3. arch. or poet. exc. in comb. OE.
eventide, noontide, summer-tide, etc.
Ecclesiastical. = HOUR 5. OE-M16.
An anniversary or festival of the Church. Usu. in comb. OE.
Eastertide, Michaelmas tide, Whitsuntide, etc.
b. A village fair (taking place on the festival of the parish's patron saint). dial. E19.
II. Tide of the sea.
The alternate rising and falling of the sea, usu. twice in each lunar day at each place, due to the attraction of the moon and sun; the alternate inflow and outflow produced by this on a coast, the flood and ebb; the seawater as affected by this. LME.
J. Maidment Waste lands bordering on the sea shore..covered with water when the tide comes in. E. Ardizzone He noticed a little boat just afloat on the incoming tide. Proverb: Time and tide wait for no man.
b. transf. & fig. A (recurrent) flow, a rise and fall; something ebbing, or flowing, or turning, esp. a marked trend of opinion, fortune, or events. LME.
Shakespeare Julius Caesar There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. D. Fraser In the autumn of 1918 the tide finally turned.
c. spec. = flood-tide s.v. FLOOD noun 1. L16.
P. Holland The River at every tide riseth to a great heigth.
The time between two successive points of high water or between low water and high water; the part of this time during which the height of the water allows work etc. to be done. LME.
A body of flowing water etc.; a stream, a current, (lit. & fig.). Chiefly literary. L16.
O. Henry The rush-hour tide of humanity.
The water of the sea. poet. & dial. L18.
Phrases: acid tide a temporary increase of acidity of the urine while fasting. alkaline tide a temporary decrease of acidity of the urine after eating, due to secretion of digestive juices. cross tide a tide running across the direction of another. double tides: see DOUBLE adjective & adverb. ebb-tide: see EBB noun. go with the tide: see GO verb. high tide: see HIGH adjective. holytide: see HOLY adjective. lag of the tide: see LAG noun2 4b. low tide: see LOW adjective. priming of the tides: see PRIMING noun2. rip tide: see RIP noun5. save the tide: see SAVE verb. stop the tide: see STOP verb. swim against the tide: see SWIM verb. turn the tide: see TURN verb.
Comb.: tide-boat: sailing with or by means of the tide; tideland(s) N. Amer. land(s) submerged at high tide; tideland spruce = SITKA spruce; tidemark (a) the mark left or reached by the tide at high or (occas.) low water; (b) a post etc. set up to mark the rise and fall of or the point reached by the tide; (c) a mark left on a surface, esp. a bath, at the limit reached by water; a line of dirt marking the extent to which a person's body has been washed; tide-mill a mill driven by the action of the tide on a water-wheel; tide-rip [RIP noun5] (a patch of) rough water, esp. as caused by opposing tides, or by a rapid rise of the tide, esp. over an uneven bottom; tidesman Hist. = tidewaiter below; tide-surveyor Hist. a customs official who supervised the tidewaiters; tidetable a table showing the times of high and low water at a particular place or places during a period; tidewaiter Hist. a customs officer who boarded ships on arrival (formerly with the tide) to enforce the customs regulations; tidewater noun & adjective (a) noun water brought by or affected by the tide, tidal water; US a region situated on tidewater; (b) adjective (US) designating a region, esp. eastern Virginia, situated on tidewater; tidewave the undulation of the surface of the sea which passes around the earth and causes high tide as its highest point reaches each successive place; tideway a channel in which a tide runs, esp. the tidal part of a river; the ebb and flow in such a channel.
tideless adjective L18.
tidelessness noun E20.