flume

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English flum, also flom, flim and floum,^[2] borrowed from Old French flum (“running water, stream, river”), also flun,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} from Latin flūmen (“river, stream, flood”),^[3][4][8] from fluō (“to flow”),^[3][4][7] from Proto-Indo-European *bhleu- (“to swell, overflow”).^[7][4] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the early 12th century, meaning a river, running water, and a mill-race.^[9] The Latin noun is also the source of Italian fiume and Old Occitan flum,^[3][4] and is related to fluent.^[4][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes the modern word as probably a revival of the obsolete English one.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A stream or river: about 1175, in the Lambeth Homilies,^[3] and in the Ormulum, which speaks of Christ baptized in the flum Jorrdan, the River Jordan.^[2] Barnhart dates it to probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word meant a river, especially the Jordan, and also a flood or the Deluge;^[2][4] this sense died out in the 17th century, the OED's last example being from 1652.^[3][6] The modern word was used in America from the mid-18th century: first, in 1748, for an artificial channel to carry logs or timber, then in 1784 for one bringing water to a mill or some industrial use.^[3][10][8] In New England it was also the name of a deep, narrow ravine with a stream in it (1792).^[3][4] The verb grew out of the noun by 1851, meaning to build a flume to search stream sediment for gold,^[4] by 1855 to carry off water in one.^[4][3] The miners' phrase to go up the flume, to come to grief or to die, is recorded from 1865,^[3][6] and Mark Twain used it in 1872.^[12] In the late 20th century, from 1978, a flume was also a water chute as a fairground or amusement-park ride.^[3][8]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – a stream or river (obsolete by 1652).^[3][2]
• 13th century – a flood, the Deluge.^[4]
• 1748 – an artificial channel, especially for carrying logs or timber.^[3][10]
• 1784 – an artificial channel bringing water for industrial use.^[3]
• 1792 – a deep, narrow ravine with a stream running through it.^[3]
• 1851 – verb, to build a flume, as a way of searching stream sediment for gold.^[4] The OED's first record is from 1855.^[3]
• 1855 – a mill-tail.^[3]
• 1865 – to go up the flume, to come to grief or to die (US slang).^[3][12]
• 1873 – to convey something down a flume.^[3][6]
• 1978 – a water chute as a ride at a fairground or amusement park.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An artificial channel, often sloping, that carries water from a distance for power, irrigation or floating logs: The mill drew its water through a long wooden flume.^[10][13][3]
2. A narrow ravine or gorge with a stream running through it.^[10][13][3]
3. A water slide or chute ride at an amusement park, ending in a pool.^[13][3][6]
4. A channel placed in a stream to measure the volume or rate of its flow.^[10]
5. go up the flume (US slang): to fail completely, to be ruined, or to die.^[12][3][6]
6. A river or stream (obsolete, c. 1175–1652).^[3][6][2]

Verb

1. To carry something, such as logs or fish, by way of a flume.^[10][13][3]
2. To divert the water of a stream, or water itself, by means of a flume.^[10][6]
3. To build or use a flume.^[10][3][6]

Related words

• fluent
• fluid
• flux

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins