[n] a powerful circular current of water (usually the resulting of conflicting tides)
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vortex, whirlpool
Charybdis, current, stream
ado, agitation, back stream, backflow, backwash, backwater, bluster, bobbery, boil, boiling, bother, botheration, brouhaha, burst, bustle, Charybdis, churn, commotion, confusion, conturbation, countercurrent, counterflow, counterflux, discomposure, disord
\Mael"strom\, n. [Norw., a whirlpool.] 1. A celebrated whirlpool on the coast of Norway. 2. Also Fig.; as, a maelstrom of vice.