Meaning

noun a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth

noun dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas

noun the act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression

originFrom Middle English streem, strem, from Old English strēam, from Proto-West Germanic *straum, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (“river”), from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”). Doublet of rheum. Cognate with Scots strem, streme, streym (“stream, river”), North Frisian Stroom, struum (“stream”), West Frisian stream (“stream”), Low German Stroom…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0