1. [n]  a steady flow (usually from natural causes); "the raft floated downstream on the current"; "he felt a stream of air"
2. [n]  dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas; "two streams of development run through American history"; "stream of consciousness"; "the flow of thought"; "the current of history"
3. [n]  a flow of electricity through a conductor; "the current was measured in amperes"
4. [adj]  occurring in or belonging to the present time; "current events"; "the current topic"; "current negotiations"; "current psychoanalytic theories"; "the ship's current position"

1. \Cur"rent\ (k?r"rent), a. [OE. currant, OF. curant,
   corant, p. pr. of curre, corre, F. courre, courir, to run,
   from L. currere; perh. akin to E. horse. Cf. {Course},
   {Concur}, {Courant}, {Coranto}.]
   1. Running or moving rapidly. [Archaic]
            Like the current fire, that renneth Upon a cord.
                                                  --Gower.
            To chase a creature that was current then In these
            wild woods, the hart with golden horns. --Tennyson.
   2. Now passing, as time; as, the current month.
   3. Passing from person to person, or from hand to hand;
      circulating through the community; generally received;
      common; as, a current coin; a current report; current
      history.
            That there was current money in Abraham's time is
            past doubt.                           --Arbuthnot.
            Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current.
                                                  --Shak.
            His current value, which is less or more as men have
            occasion for him.                     --Grew.
   4. Commonly estimated or acknowledged.
   5. Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic;
      passable.
            O Buckingham, now do I play the touch To try if thou
            be current gold indeed.               --Shak.
   {Account current}. See under {Account}.
   {Current money}, lawful money. --Abbott.
   

2. \Cur"rent\, n. [Cf. F. courant. See {Current}, a. ]
   1. A flowing or passing; onward motion. Hence: A body of
      fluid moving continuously in a certain direction; a
      stream; esp., the swiftest part of it; as, a current of
      water or of air; that which resembles a stream in motion;
      as, a current of electricity.
            Two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify
            the banks that bound them in.         --Shak.
            The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents,
            whose direction . . . the navigator should know.
                                                  --Nichol.
   2. General course; ordinary procedure; progressive and
      connected movement; as, the current of time, of events, of
      opinion, etc.
   {Current meter}, an instrument for measuring the velocity,
      force, etc., of currents.
   {Current mill}, a mill driven by a current wheel.
   {Current wheel}, a wheel dipping into the water and driven by
      the current of a stream or by the ebb and flow of the
      tide.
   Syn: Stream; course. See {Stream}.
   

The quantity of charge per unit time, measured in Amperes (Amps, A). By historical convention, the sign of current is positive for currents flowing from positive to negative potential, but experience indicates that electrons are negatively charged and flow in the opposite direction.

1. The continuously downstream flow of water in a river, resulting from the tendency of water to move downhill toward sea level.
2. Flow of water, both as a phenomenon and as a vector (usually qualified by adjectives like downward, littoral, tidal, etc. to show relation to a pattern of movement)
3. The amount of electricity moving through a conductive material such as a wire.