Upstreams

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Situated in the direction from which a river or stream flows, closer to its origin
2. Located or moving nearer to the spring or beginning point of a flowing body of water
3. Describing movement or position toward the starting point of a river’s current

Etymology: "Upstreams" is the third-person singular present form of "upstream," an adverb meaning toward the source of a river or current. The adverb is simply a compound of "up" and "stream," so it describes movement against the flow, as when a salmon heads upstream to spawn. "Stream" traces back to Old English "strēam," which meant a current of water or a flow of any kind, and it has roots reaching back through Proto-Germanic "straumaz" to a much older Indo-European stem. "Up" comes from the same deep ancestry, so the two halves of this compound are both very old, inherited words rather than borrowings. The combination itself is transparent: "up" supplies the direction, "stream" supplies the water.

Synonyms: up-river, upcurrent, against the current, toward the source, headwaters

Antonyms: downstreams, down-river, downcurrent, toward the mouth, estuary