I. ˈtīd noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English tyde, tide time, from Old English tīd; akin to Old Frisian & Old Saxon tīd time, Old High German zīt, Old Norse tīthr time, Greek daiesthai to distribute, divide, Sanskrit dayate he apportions, dāti he cuts, divides, mows; basic meaning: to divide
1.
a. obsolete : a space of time : while , period
b. archaic : a particular point in time : a definite moment : occasion
c. : fit or opportune time : opportunity
d.
(1) : an ecclesiastical anniversary or religious festival
(2) : holiday ; also : a holiday season as distinguished from the specific day on which the holiday is celebrated
(3) Britain : a fair or merrymaking on a parish feast day
e. : a space of time (as between two high tides or during the height of a flood tide) at sea when the water level permits a particular activity to be carried out
2.
a.
(1) : the alternate rising and falling of the surface of the ocean and of gulfs, bays, estuaries, and other water bodies connected with the ocean that occurs twice a day over most of the earth and is caused by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon occurring unequally on different parts of the earth — see direct tide , ebb tide , flood tide , neap tide , opposite tide , spring tide
(2) : a similar but less marked rising and falling of an inland body of water
(3) : earth tide
(4) : atmospheric tide
b.
(1) : flood tide
the ship departed on the tide
(2) : a specific instance of tide
there was a tide at 9:53 p.m.
c. : the mass of water moving in a tide
sand castles covered by the tide
also : tidemark
animals living between the tides
3.
a. : something that may turn, rise and fall, or decrease or increase like the tides of the sea
a waning tide of popular interest
b. : an extreme condition usually of excellence or badness
how our fortunes ever got to such a tide
4. : mobile water: as
a. : a flowing stream : current
b. : the waters of the ocean
c. : flood waters : the overflow of a flooding stream
Synonyms: see flow
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
intransitive verb
1. : to flow as or in a tide : surge to and fro : pour forth
2.
a. : to drift with the tide especially in navigating a ship into or out of an anchorage, harbor, or river
b. : to become carried : drift as if with a tide — usually used with on or onward or over
tiding on toward an uncertain fate
transitive verb
1. : to transport or cause to float with or as if with the tide
the sea tiding debris back to shore
2. : to proceed along (one's way) by taking advantage of tides
III. intransitive verb
Etymology: Middle English tiden, from Old English tīdan; akin to Old Frisian tīdia to proceed to, Middle Dutch tiden to go, come, Middle Low German tīden to hurry, strive, Old Norse tītha to long for, wish, tīthr time — more at tide I
archaic : betide , happen , befall