tide

See also: Tide, tidé, tìde, and -tide

English

Boats at low tide (periodic change of sea level).

Pronunciation

• enPR: tīd
• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /taɪd/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /tɑjd/
• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [tɑed]
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /tʌɪd/
• (Northumbria) IPA^(key): /tɛɪd/
• (Southern US, African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): [tʰaːd]
• Rhymes: -aɪd
• Homophone: tied (except in Scotland and Northumbria)

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *deh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-y(eti)

Proto-Indo-European *-y(éti)

Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *déh₂itis

Proto-Indo-European *dih₂tís

Proto-Germanic *tīdiz

Proto-West Germanic *tīdi

Old English tīd

Middle English tide

English tide

Inherited from Middle English tide, from Old English tīd, from Proto-West Germanic *tīdi, from Proto-Germanic *tīdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *dih₂tís, from *déh₂itis, from *deh₂y- + *-tis. Related to time.

Cognate with Dutch tijd (“time”), German Zeit (“time”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish tid (“time”), Faroese and Icelandic tíð (“time”).

Noun

tide (plural tides)

1. The daily fluctuation in the level of the sea caused by the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun.

   The Bristol Channel has some of the world's largest tides.

2. The associated flow of water.

   A lot of driftwood was brought in on the tide.

   We can cross to the island when the tide is out, but it won't move out until around five o'clock.

3. Any similar gravitational effect on Earth or other body.

   As well as sea tides, there are much smaller land tides.

   By far the largest tides on Europa are those caused by the gravitational attraction of Jupiter.

4. A high-volume flow, literal or figurative; a current or flood.

   Synonyms: inflood, inflooding, inflow, inflowing, influx

   The sewer burst, and a tide of sewage poured into nearby properties.

   A tide of people crossed over the border.

   We've encountered a tide of problems.

   • c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 88, column 1:

     Go I charge thee, inuite them all, let in the tide / Of Knaues once more: my Cook and Ile provide.

5. (figurative) The tendency or direction of causes, influences, or events; course; current.

   The tide of public opinion has turned.

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune […]

   • 1987, Roger Waters, “The Tide Is Turning”, in Radio K.A.O.S.:

     This is the crap our children are learning / But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning

   • 1988, Eddy Grant, “Gimme Hope Jo'anna”:

     Can't you see that the tide is turning

   • 2026 June 18, Peter Beaumont, Pjotr Sauer, Jennifer Rankin, “Moscow oil refinery struck in Ukraine’s biggest air raid on city since start of war”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Ahead of a summit on Thursday evening in Brussels, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the tide was turning.

6. (chronology, obsolete, except in liturgy) Time, notably anniversary, period or season linked to an ecclesiastical feast.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza xxix:

     [...] and rest their weary limbs a tide.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion:

     Which, at th'appointed tyde, / Each one did make his Bryde

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain from the Birth of Jesus Christ until the year MDCXLVIII‎^[2]:

     at the tide / Of Christ his birth

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

     What is singular too, the spademen seem to work lazily; they will not work double-tides, even for offer of more wages, though their tide is but seven hours[.]

7. (regional, archaic) A time.

   The doctor's no good this tide.

8. (regional, archaic, in compounds) A point or period of time identified or described by a qualifier.

   Eventide, noontide, morrowtide, nighttide, moontide, harvesttide, wintertide, summertide, springtide, autumntide etc.

9. (mining) The period of twelve hours.

Derived terms

• Allhallowtide
• a rising tide lifts all boats
• Ascensiontide
• astronomical tide
• atmospheric tide
• birthtide
• buck the tide
• Christmastide
• countertide
• crimson tide
• critical tide level
• Eastertide
• ebb tide
• evetide
• flood tide
• foretide
• full tide
• gravitational tide
• half-tide
• Hallowtide
• high tide
• hightide
• hurricane tide
• inferior tide
• in-tide
• king tide
• land-tide
• land tide
• low tide
• macrotide
• Maytide
• meal-tide
• morrowtide
• neap tide
• nighttide
• noontide
• oceanic tide
• opetide
• out-tide
• Passiontide
• pink tide
• proxigean spring tide
• red tide
• rip tide
• riptide
• Rogationtide
• roll tide
• run-out tide
• run-up tide
• spring tide
• stem the tide
• storm tide
• summertide
• supertide
• terrestrial tide
• thermal tide
• tidal
• tidal wave
• -tide
• tide crack
• tide current
• tide day
• tide dial
• tide-driven
• tide duty
• tidefall
• tideflat
• tideful
• tide gate
• tide gauge
• tide harbour
• tide hour
• tide land
• tideland
• tidelands oil
• tideless
• tidelike
• tideline
• tide lock
• tidely
• tide mark
• tidemark
• tide mill
• Tide Mills
• tide nor time tarrieth no man
• tide pole
• tide pond
• tidepool
• tide pool
• tide power
• tide predictor
• tider
• tiderace
• tide railroad
• tide range
• tide rip
• tide rock
• tide-rode
• tide rode
• tide runner
• tidesman
• tide stream
• tide surveyor
• tide table
• tide waiter
• tidewater
• tide wave
• tideway
• tide way
• tide wheel
• tideworn
• tidewrack
• tidology
• tidy
• time and tide
• time and tide stay for no man
• time and tide tarry for no man
• time and tide wait for no man
• turn the tide
• undertide
• Whitsuntide
• wintertide
• work double tides
• yestertide
• Yuletide

Translations

periodic change of sea level — see also flood tide,‎ ebb tide,‎ high tide,‎ low tide

• Afrikaans: gety, ty
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: مَدّ وَجَزْر (madd wa-jazr)
• Azerbaijani: qabarma-çəkilmə
• Belarusian: прылі́ў m (prylíw) (high tide), адлі́ў m (adlíw) (low tide)
• Bidayuh:

  Biatah Bidayuh: pasang

• Bulgarian: прили́в (bg) m (prilív) (high tide), отли́в (bg) m (otlív) (low tide)
• Burmese: ဒီ (my) (di), ဒီရေ (my) (dire)
• Catalan: marea (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 潮 (zh) (cháo), 潮汐 (zh) (cháoxī)

• Cornish: mortid
• Czech: příliv (cs) m (high tide), odliv (cs) m (low tide)
• Danish: tidevand (da) n
• Dutch: getijde (nl) n, tij (nl) n
• Esperanto: tajdo
• Finnish: vuorovesi (fi)
• French: marée (fr) f
• Georgian: მიქცევა-მოქცევა (mikceva-mokceva), მიქცევ-მოქცევა (mikcev-mokceva)
• German: Gezeiten (de) pl, Tide (de) f
• Greek: παλίρροια (el) f (palírroia)
• Hindi: ज्वारभाँटा (jvārbhā̃ṭā)
• Hungarian: árapály (hu)
• Icelandic: sjávarfall (is) n
• Ido: mareo (io)
• Indonesian: pasang surut (id)
• Irish: taoide f
• Italian: marea (it) f
• Japanese: 潮 (ja) (shio), 潮汐 (ja) (chōseki)
• Korean: 조석(潮汐) (ko) (joseok)
• Latin: aestus (la) m
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: при́лив m (príliv) (high tide); о́длив m (ódliv) (low tide)
• Maltese: frugħ u mili tal-baħar, (slightly learned) marea f
• Māori: kōrihirihi, nga(h)ehe
• Mon: ဒဳ
• Norman: mathée f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tidevann (no) n, tidvatn (no) n

  Nynorsk: tidvatn n

• Persian: کشند (fa) (kešand)
• Polish: pływ (pl) m inan, przypływ (pl) m inan (high tide), odpływ (pl) m inan (low tide)
• Portuguese: maré (pt) m
• Romanian: maree (ro) f
• Russian: прили́в (ru) m (prilív) (high tide), отли́в (ru) m (otlív) (low tide)
• Samoan: tai (sm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: плима f, прилив m (high tide); осека f, одлив m (low tide)

  Latin: plima (sh) f, priliv (sh) m (high tide); oseka (sh) f, odliv (sh) m (low tide)

• Slovak: príliv m (high tide), odliv m (low tide)
• Slovene: bibavica (sl) f, plimovanje n; plima (sl) f (high tide), oseka (sl) f (low tide)
• Spanish: marea (es)
• Swedish: tidvatten (sv) n
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: gelgit (tr)
• Ukrainian: припли́в m (pryplýv) (flood tide), відпли́в m (vidplýv) (ebb tide)
• Vietnamese: thủy triều (vi)
• Walloon: marêye f
• Welsh: llanw (cy) m
• Yámana: sači

current, stream, flood

• Bulgarian: пото́к (bg) m (potók), тече́ние (bg) n (tečénie)
• Finnish: virta (fi), virtaus (fi); tulva (fi), hyöky
• German: Strom (de) m, Strömung (de) f
• Greek: ρεύμα (el) n (révma)
• Italian: corso (it) m
• Macedonian: по́ток (mk) m (pótok), тек m (tek)
• Russian: пото́к (ru) m (potók), тече́ние (ru) n (tečénije)
• Welsh: aches m

time, notably liturgical anniversary or season

• Dutch: getijde (nl) n
• Finnish: aika (fi)
• Macedonian: вре́ме n (vréme)
• Russian: вре́мя (ru) n (vrémja)

mining: period of twelve hours

something which changes like the tides of the sea

• Finnish: vuorovesi (fi)

tendency or direction of causes, influences or events; course; current

• Finnish: virta (fi)
• French: tendance (fr) f
• German: Trend (de) m, Lauf (de) m, Gang (de) m, Tendenz (de) f
• Greek: ροπή (el) f (ropí)
• Russian: направле́ние (ru) n (napravlénije)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} pasang (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} marea
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} ström (sv)
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} taid

Verb

tide (third-person singular simple present tides, present participle tiding, simple past and past participle tided)

1. (transitive) To cause to float with the tide; to drive or carry with the tide or stream.
   • 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:

     They are tided down the stream.

2. (by extension, originally from the idea of being carried by the tide, now chiefly in the phrase tide over) To carry over or through a problem or difficulty.
3. (intransitive, rare) To pour a tide or flood.

   The ocean tided most impressively.

4. (intransitive, nautical) To work into or out of a river or harbor by drifting with the tide and anchoring when it becomes adverse.

Derived terms

• tide over

Translations

cause to float with the tide

• Dutch: met het getij meevoeren met de vloed meevoeren
• Greek: πάω με το ρεύμα (páo me to révma)

See also

• ebb
• flow
• neap
• spring

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language
• “tide”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Etymology 2

From Middle English tiden, tide, from Old English tīdan (“to happen”).

Verb

tide (third-person singular simple present tides, present participle tiding, simple past and past participle tided)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To happen, occur.
   • 1779, David Dalrymple, Annals of Scotland‎^[3], volume II, page 121:

     I wit not what may tide us here

Synonyms

• betide, befall

Anagrams

• DIET, Diet, diet, dite, diët, edit, edit., tied

Middle English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *deh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-y(eti)

Proto-Indo-European *-y(éti)

Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *déh₂itis

Proto-Indo-European *dih₂tís

Proto-Germanic *tīdiz

Proto-West Germanic *tīdi

Old English tīd

Middle English tide

Inherited from Old English tīd, from Proto-West Germanic *tīdi, from Proto-Germanic *tīdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₂itis.

Alternative forms

• tid, tyd, tyde
• tyyde (Promptorium Parvulorum)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtiːd(ə)/

Noun

tide (plural tides or (mostly early) tiden)

1. A period, point, or span of time, particularly:
   1. An hour; one of twenty-four divisions of the day or an equivalent period.
   2. A season, a division of the year.
      • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Squyers Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

        ageyn this lusty someres tyde

        [to protect] against this amorous summertime

   3. A lifetime or lifespan; the temporal extent of one's life.
   4. An age or era; a historical period.
2. A religious holiday or observance; a religiously important day or other period:
   1. (Christianity) A canonical hour or a service held at it.
   2. (Christianity) A feast day; a day commemorating a saint.
3. An occasion or point in time; a time where something occurs:
   • c. 1225, Ancrene Ƿiſſe (MS. Corpus Christi 402)‎^[4], Ludlow, Shropshire, published c. 1235, folios 55, recto – 55, verso, lines 336-338; republished at Cambridge: Parker Library on the Web, January 2018:

     […] luuie tıde oðer ſtude foꝛte cumen ı ſƿuch keaft ⁊ oþre foꝛerıdleſ þe me mot nede foꝛbuhen. þe ı þe muchele fulðe nule fennılıche fallen.

     […] enjoying the time or place such unchaste behaviour might arise, and other precursors that you must necessarily avoid so you won't fall miserably into the great swamp.

   1. A favourable or convenient time; a chance.
   2. An event or occurence; something that happens.
4. A tide (fluctuation in the level of a sea):
   1. The time between or of high tide or low tide.
   2. (nautical) Travelling on the tide.
   3. (figurative) Something that is variable or changeable.

Related terms

• bitiden
• eventide
• evetide
• tiden
• tidy

Descendants

• English: tide
• Middle Scots: tyde, tide
  • Scots: tide
• ⇒ Yola: enteete
• → Scottish Gaelic: tìde

References

• “tīd(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “tide, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Etymology 2

Adjective

tide

1. (Lancashire, Norfolk) alternative form of tidy

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tiːd/

Noun

tide m or f

1. dative form of tid

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• tidenne (dialectal)

Noun

tide f

1. dative singular of tid

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtiː.de/
• Rhymes: -iː.de

Noun

tīde

1. inflection of tīd:
   1. accusative/genitive/dative singular
   2. nominative/accusative plural

See also

Seasons in Old English · tīde (layout · text) · category
lencten (“spring”)	sumor (“summer”)	hærfest (“autumn”)	winter (“winter”)

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From English today.

Adverb

tide

1. today

Ternate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈti.de]

Noun

tide

1. the tide or tide-tide dance

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh