1. [n]  the circulation of cytoplasm within a cell
2. [adj]  (of liquids) moving freely; "a flowing brook"
3. [adj]  moving smoothly and continuously; "crowds flowing through the canyons of the streets"; "fan streaming into the concert hall"
4. [adj]  exuding a bodily fluid in profuse amounts; "his streaming face"; "her streaming eyes"

1. \Stream"ing\, a.
   Sending forth streams.
   
   

2. \Stream"ing\, n.
   1. The act or operation of that which streams; the act of
      that which sends forth, or which runs in, streams.
   
   2. (Mining) The reduction of stream tin; also, the search for
      stream tin.
   
   

Playing sound or video in real time as it is downloaded over the internet as opposed to storing it in a local file first. A plug-in to a web browser such as netscape navigator decompresses and plays the data as it is transferred to your computer over the world-wide web. Streaming audio or video avoids the delay entailed in downloading an entire file and then playing it with a helper application. Streaming requires a fast connection and a computer powerful enough to execute the decompression algorithm in real time.