TID'DLE TIDE, noun 1. Time; season. Which, at the appointed tide, Each one did make his bride. [This sense is obsolete.] 2. The flow of the water in the ocean and seas, twice in a little more than twenty four hours; the flux and reflux, or ebb and flow. We commonly distinguish the flow or rising of the water by the name of flood-tide, and the reflux by that of ebb-tide. There is much less tide or rise of water in the main ocean, at a distance from land, than there is at the shore, and in sounds and bays. 3. Stream; course; current; as the tide of the times. Time's ungentle tide. 4. Favorable course. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. 5. Violent confluence. [Not in use.] 6. Among miners, the period of twelve hours. 7. Current; flow of blood. And life's red tide runs ebbing from the wound. TIDE, verb transitive To drive with the stream. TIDE, verb intransitive To work in or out of a river or harbor by favor of the tide, and anchor when it becomes adverse.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI