Regular current recession (7)

'regular' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.

'current recession' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'current' could be 'tide' (sea currents) and 'tide' is found in the answer.
'recession' could be 'ebb' (I've seen this before) and 'ebb' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?