What is the meaning of the "the river is flowing?" Is this valid usage?
Websters, #2: River: A large quantity of a flowing substance
The river is already a flow by definition. Can the river be "not flowing?"
Learn English – Valid? “The river is flowing.”
ambiguitymeaning
Related Solutions
Hurdled is a verb that could mean "to jump over a hurdle". The expression therefore could be taken to mean a ford which has been crossed by jumping over it. This could be taken literally or more probably figuratively. The expression therefore might be taken as "a place where a river was crossed easily".
However, as Mr. Lister pointed out, hurdled could also mean that hurdles were added to the ford. See this page: (emphasis added)
The Gaelic name for Dublin is ‘Baile Atha Cliath’ which translates literally as ‘town of the hurdle ford’, a description of the bank of wooden hurdles built up across the river Liffey by the Vikings. The word ‘Dublin’ is actually a composition of two Gaelic words: ‘dubh’ meaning ‘black’ and ‘linn’ means ‘pool’ (or ‘mire’). Thus the literal translation of the words from which Dublin gets its name is Black pool! Crossing the ‘hurdle ford’ was not without its dangers. In 770 AD a band of Bon Valley raiders were drowned crossing the Liffey at the hurdle ford.
‘Juices’ is a kind of slangy term that means ‘a person’s vitality or creative faculties’. The creative faculties are of course what is referenced in the expression mentioned in the question linked to by jwpat7 in the comment above; in this case, it’s the other meaning we’re looking for.
Since a person’s vitality is seen here as a kind of ‘juice’ (originally most likely referring on some level to bodily fluids: especially blood was, in Mediaeval times, often considered to be a source of energy, health, and vitality in humans), it makes sense that it should be set ‘flowing’, since that’s what liquids do.
This meaning is extended from the meaning the OED has as sense 2:
The fluid part or moisture of an animal body or substance; now usually in pl. the various liquid constituents of the body, the bodily ‘humours’
Obviously, if you think of it as being ultimately just a kind of euphemism for blood (and sweat and bile and all the other humours), getting it to flow, and flow faster especially, would be a sign of physical exertion or excitement: when we run, our blood actually flows faster, and our pulse increases.
The phrase is often also used in a sexual manner, where the reference is to the various kinds of sex-related bodily fluids that are released when people become aroused. Whether the sexual meaning came first or the exertion meaning came first (or whether they are really to be separated at all), I do not know; I cannot find any quotes for that. But it is clear that they are both in use.
In the quote from your NYT article, the meaning is definitely that of physical exertion–based excitement. He is comparing the ‘rush’ he gets from driving to a kind of race where he’s not going to let anyone pass him and be faster than him.
Best Answer
We would identify something as a river because we ordinarily expect it to have the characteristics of a river, even if some of those characteristics are temporarily suspended. That is, a permanent or semi-permanent stream would be a river even if it has temporarily stopped streaming, as noted in the comments, by drying up, being dammed up, or being frozen solid.
On the other hand, something which only temporarily takes on the characteristics of a river could be called so, metaphorically, but only while it possesses those characteristics. If they cease, the metaphor is no longer applicable. If I spill a jar of molasses, I may report a river of molasses running down the table leg, but once the flow stops, we would lose the river (having gained a pool).
Consider one's vocation. Someone who introduces herself as a pilot or a writer does not cease to be when she is not engaged in the act of piloting or writing. On the other hand, if I am speaking with my friend about two women across the room, one dancing and the other standing still, I might refer to the first as the dancer to distinguish between them. If she stops dancing, then she is no longer a dancer, and I will have to identify her otherwise-- unless she hands me her business card with "dancer" given as her occupation.