flux

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A flow or flowing of a liquid.
• noun The flowing in of the tide.
• noun A continuing movement, especially in large numbers of things.
• noun Constant or frequent change; fluctuation.
• noun Medicine The discharge of large quantities of fluid material from the body, especially the discharge of watery feces from the intestines.
• noun The rate of flow of fluid, particles, or energy through a given surface.
• noun The lines of force of an electric or magnetic field.
• noun Chemistry & Metallurgy A substance that aids, induces, or otherwise actively participates in fusing or flowing, as.
• noun A substance applied to a surface to be joined by welding, soldering, or brazing to facilitate the flowing of solder and prevent formation of oxides.
• noun A mineral added to the metals in a furnace to promote fusing or to prevent the formation of oxides.
• noun An additive that improves the flow of plastics during fabrication.
• noun A readily fusible glass or enamel used as a base in ceramic work.
• intransitive verb To melt; fuse.
• intransitive verb To apply a flux to.
• intransitive verb To become fluid.
• intransitive verb To flow; stream.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To flood; overflow.
• In medicine, to cause a flux or evacuation from; salivate; purge.
• To clear or clean out by or as if by an evacuation; relieve by purging, literally or figuratively.
• To melt; fuse; make fluid.
• To flow or change.
• noun Continuous motion.
• noun In enameling, a colorless vitreous base, composed of silica mixed with minium or red lead and potash or carbonate of soda. See fondant, 2.
• noun In botany, the slimy exudation from wounds in the bark of various trees.
• noun The act of flowing; a flowing, as of a fluid; flow in general, but now most commonly an occasional flow; an outpouring or effusion of anything.
• noun Hence Continual change; the mode of being of that which is instantaneous, ceasing to exist as soon as it begins to exist.
• noun In pathology, a morbid or abnormal issue or discharge of matter, as blood, mucus, or pus, from any mucous surface of the internal vessels or viscera: as, the bloody flux (dysentery).
• noun Matter which is discharged in a flux; defluxion; excrement.
• noun A flowing together; concourse; confluence.
• noun Fusion; conversion to a liquid state by the operation of heat.
• noun In metallurgy, any substance or mixture used to promote the fusion of metals or minerals, as alkalis, borax, tartar, and other saline matter, or, in large operations, limestone or fluor-spar.
• noun In mathematics, a vector which is referred to a unit of area.
• Flowing; changing; inconstant; variable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of flowing; a continuous moving on or passing by, as of a flowing stream; constant succession; change.
• noun The setting in of the tide toward the shore, -- the ebb being called the reflux.
• noun The state of being liquid through heat; fusion.
• noun (Chem. & Metal.) Any substance or mixture used to promote the fusion of metals or minerals, as alkalies, borax, lime, fluorite.
• noun A fluid discharge from the bowels or other part; especially, an excessive and morbid discharge. See Bloody flux.
• noun The matter thus discharged.
• noun (Physics) The quantity of a fluid that crosses a unit area of a given surface in a unit of time.
• transitive verb To affect, or bring to a certain state, by flux.
• transitive verb To cause to become fluid; to fuse.
• transitive verb (Med.) To cause a discharge from; to purge.
• adjective Flowing; unstable; inconstant; variable.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A state of ongoing change.
• noun A chemical agent for cleaning metal prior to soldering or welding.