a. and sb. [ad. L. effluent-em pr. pple. of effluĕre to flow out, f. ex out + fluĕre to flow.]
A. adj. That flows forth or outwards.
1726. Monro, Anat. Nerves (1741), 21. Arterious or effluent.
1738. Keill, Anim. Oecon., 90. The Motion of the effluent Water will be alike in both cases.
1828. Blackw. Mag., XXIII. 590. The pure, hot, effluent gravy of your steak.
1880. Daily News, 9 Jan., 7/2. An effluent drain into the Thames.
fig. 1803. Monthly Mag., XV. 151. The Acts of Peter form a … narrative, so widely different in character from the Acts of Paul, that it is hardly possible to conceive them effluent from the same pen.
1839. Bailey, Festus (1848), 60/1. Born or effluent or influent Deity.
B. sb. a. A stream flowing from a larger stream, lake or reservoir. b. The outflow from a sewage tank, or from land after irrigation or earth-filtratration of sewage.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 237. Geographers will doubt that such a mass … can maintain its level without an effluent.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 344. This old hatch … is situate … on the effluent.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Oct., 4/1. The clear effluent has been drawn off from each tank.
Hence Effluentness. rare–0.
1772. in Scott, Bailey’s Dict. (Ash).
