Tide1, n.
n. [A-S. tid, for tihadh, time, from tihan, to say, show, Goth. teihan; O. Sax., O. Fries., Icel., Sw., & Dan. tid, L. Ger. tied, time, and tide, tie, tide, D. tijd, time, and tye, tij, tide, O. H. Ger. zît, N. H. Ger. zeit, time.]
Sense 1. Time; season. [Obs.] “At the tide of Christ his birth.” Fuller.
Which, at the appointed tide, Each one did make his bride. Spenser.
Sense 2. The alternate rising and falling of the waters of the ocean, and of bays, rivers, &c., connected therewith. The tide ebbs and flows twice in a lunar day, or the space of a little more than twenty-four hours. It is occasioned by the attraction of the sun and moon (the influence of the latter being three times that of the former), acting unequally on the waters in different parts of the earth, thus disturbing their equilibrium. When the sun and moon are in conjunction or opposition, as at new moon and full moon, their action is united, producing a higher than the usual tide, called the spring-tide, as represented in the cut. When the moon is in the first or third quarter, the sun’s attraction in part counteracts the effect of the moon’s attraction, thus producing a lower than the usual tide, called the neap-tide.
The flow or rising of the water is called flood-tide, and the reflux, ebb-tide. See also SPRING-TIDE and NEAP-TIDE.
Sense 3. Stream; current; as, a tide of blood.
Let in the tide of knaves once more. Shak.
Sense 4. Tendency or direction of causes, influences, or events; course; current; sometimes, favorable concurrence of causes or influences. “Time’s ungentle tide.” Byron.
There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Shak.
Sense 5. Violent confluence. [Obs.] Bacon.
Sense 6. (Mining.) The period of twelve hours.
Atmospheric tides, tidal movements of the atmosphere similar to those of the ocean, and produced in the same manner by the attractive forces of the sun and moon.—To work double tides. See WORK.
