tide

Less common meanings

6. 6
   nounarchaicin compounds

   (archaic) A time, season, or occasion, often named by a preceding word such as a part of the day or a church feast (as in eventide, Christmastide).

   Note

   Here the word builds compounds: a qualifier in front fixes which stretch of time is meant, as in eventide, noontide, nighttide, harvesttide, wintertide and autumntide. The set runs through the parts of the day and the seasons of the year, and each is written as one word. Coining a new one gives prose an archaic, regional flavor. Standing alone, the noun is simply an old word for a time or season. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • In temporal compounds, a preceding qualifier identifies the period meant. en.wiktionary.org
   • The listed compounds are attested as single words referring to parts of the day or seasons. en.wiktionary.org
   • The noun has a historical meaning of time or season. simple.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   gravity effectnouncountable

   A comparable gravitational effect acting on the Earth itself or on another celestial body.

   Jupiter raises a powerful tide in the icy crust of Europa.

   Such gravitational tides can heat a moon's interior over time.

   Note

   Science stretches the word well beyond the shore. The solid ground has its own much smaller land tides, and by far the largest tides on Europa are raised by Jupiter's pull. In this use tide is countable and usually named by where it acts or what causes it: land tides, sea tides, tides caused by Jupiter. That qualifier is what tells it apart from the ocean's rise and fall. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Earth's solid ground experiences tides much smaller than sea tides. spaceplace.nasa.gov
   • Jupiter's gravitational attraction causes by far the largest tides on Europa. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
8. 8
   sail with currentverbintransitive

   To work a vessel into or out of a harbor by drifting with the tide and anchoring when the flow turns adverse.

   Becalmed for days, the crew could only tide slowly toward port.

   Sailors learned to tide carefully through the narrow estuary.

   Similardrift

   Note

   Seamanship's slow way upriver: when the wind cannot help, a vessel rides the favorable tide, drops anchor as the flow turns against it, and waits for the next. Progress comes in stages, tide by tide. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • When wind is unhelpful, vessels progress with favorable tides and anchor during adverse tides, proceeding in stages. 1805club.org
9. 9
   nounobsolete

   A violent meeting or clashing together of currents or streams.

   Note

   An obsolete sense for the violent meeting of waters, where flows collide rather than rise and fall. Francis Bacon stretched it to crowds in 1622, writing of "tides of people once up," a mass already in commotion. A modern reader will naturally take such a phrase as ordinary ebb and flow, so in older texts it is worth checking whether a clash of currents is meant instead. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Francis Bacon wrote the phrase 'strong Tide'. upload.wikimedia.org
   • The Bacon quotation belongs to a work first published in 1622. edwardworthlibrary.ie
   • Bacon uses a powerful current figuratively for the force carrying Henry VII's thoughts towards accumulating treasure; no currents collide. upload.wikimedia.org
10. 10
    verbrareintransitive

    To pour forth or flow out in a great surge, like a flood.
11. 11
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To happen, occur, or come to pass.

    I wit not what may tide us here

    1779, David Dalrymple, Annals of Scotland

    Note

    A separate verb from the sea-word, descended through Middle English tiden from Old English tīdan, 'to happen.' A line of Barbour's verse quoted in David Dalrymple's Annals of Scotland (1779) uses it with the person affected as its object: 'what may tide us here.' Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The verb meaning 'happen' has a separate derivation through Middle English tiden from Old English tīdan. en.wiktionary.org
    • The work appeared in two volumes in 1776 and 1779. The quotation is associated with volume II, published in 1779. manuscripts.nls.uk
    • The wording 'what may tide us here' occurs in Annals of Scotland. archive.org
    • Dalrymple quotes Barbour's verse. An unnamed Englishman speaks the line in the poem. archive.org
    • In this quotation, us identifies the people affected, and tide means 'befall'. gutenberg.org
12. 12
    verbarchaic

    To cause something to float along, driving or carrying it with the tide or stream.

    They are tided down the stream.

    1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine
13. 13
    noun

    A period of twelve hours, used especially in mining and certain trades.