# tide

Pronunciation: say "TYD" US /taɪd/, AUS /tɑed/

## Noun

1. The regular rise and fall in the level of the sea, caused mainly by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun; also, the flow of seawater in or out that comes with it.
   - Simple: The way the sea goes up and down each day, and the water that moves in or out as it does.
   - _Fishermen plan their trips around the tide._
   - _Coastal communities track the tides closely throughout the year._
2. The general direction or tendency of causes, influences, or events.
   - Simple: The general direction in which events or feelings are moving.
   - _The tide of war began to favor the defenders._
   - _Political tides shifted quickly after the scandal broke._
3. A high-volume flow or flood, whether of real water or something figurative.
   - Simple: A large, rushing flow of something, like water or a crowd.
   - _A tide of refugees moved across the border that winter._
   - _The melting snow sent a tide of water down the valley._
5. Something that rises and falls or comes and goes in a recurring rhythm.
   - Simple: Something that rises and falls in a regular, repeating way.
   - _Interest in gardening has its own tide, swelling every spring and fading again each fall._
   - _Fashion runs in tides, with old styles returning every few years._
7. A comparable gravitational effect acting on the Earth itself or on another celestial body.
   - Simple: A pull like the sea's tide, caused by gravity acting on the Earth or another space body.
   - _Jupiter raises a powerful tide in the icy crust of Europa._
   - _Such gravitational tides can heat a moon's interior over time._

## Verb

4. (usually tide over, with the person helped placed before over) To help someone get through a period of difficulty or shortage.
   - Simple: To help someone get through a hard time or shortage. It is usually said as tide someone over.
   - _The emergency fund will tide the family over through the winter._
   - _A few extra supplies tided the crew over until the storm passed._
8. To work a vessel into or out of a harbor by drifting with the tide and anchoring when the flow turns adverse.
   - Simple: To move a ship along a river by floating with the sea's flow and anchoring when it turns against you.
   - _Becalmed for days, the crew could only tide slowly toward port._
   - _Sailors learned to tide carefully through the narrow estuary._

## Noun

6. (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). *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old word for a time or season. Now it is mostly seen in words like eventide and Christmastide.
9. A violent meeting or clashing together of currents or streams. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A violent meeting or clash of flowing waters.

## Verb

10. To pour forth or flow out in a great surge, like a flood. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To flow or pour out in a great rush, like a flood.
11. To happen, occur, or come to pass. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To happen, occur, or come about.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To cause something to float along, driving or carrying it with the tide or stream.
- (noun) A period of twelve hours, used especially in mining and certain trades.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–10** — Inherited from Middle English tyde, from Old English tīd, going back through Proto-West Germanic *tīdi and Proto-Germanic *tīdiz to Proto-Indo-European *déh₂itis (from *deh₂y- + *-tis). It is related to 'time'.
**Meaning 11** — The verb continues Old English tīdan ("to happen") by way of Middle English tiden.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tide (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).