n.[ OE. flote ship, boat, fleet, AS. flota ship, fr. fleótan to float; akin to D. vloot fleet, G. floss raft, Icel. floti float, raft, fleet, Sw. flotta. √ 84. See Fleet, v. i., and cf. Flotilla, Flotsam, Plover. ] 1. Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the liquid surface, or mark the place of, something. Specifically: (a) A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft. (b) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler. (c) The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait line, and indicate the bite of a fish. (d) Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink; an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to swim; a life preserver. (e) The hollow, metallic ball which floats on the fuel in the fuel tank of a vehicle to indicate the level of the fuel surface, and thus the amount of fuel remaining. (f) A hollow elongated tank mounted under the wing of a seaplane which causes the plane to float when resting on the surface of the water. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

This reform bill . . . had been used as a float by the conservative ministry. J. P. Peters. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A float board. See Float board (below). [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Tempering) A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The act of flowing; flux; flow. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep. [ Obs. ] Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Plastering) The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A coal cart. [ Eng. ] Simmonds. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. The sea; a wave. See Flote, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Banking) The free use of money for a time between occurrence of a transaction (such as depositing a check or a purchase made using a credit card), and the time when funds are withdrawn to cover the transaction; also, the money made available between transactions in that manner. [ PJC ]

12. a vehicle on which an exhibit or display is mounted, driven or pulled as part of a parade. The float often is based on a large flat platform, and may contain a very elaborate structure with a tableau or people. [ PJC ]

Float board, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of an undershot water wheel or of a steamer's paddle wheel; -- a vane. --
Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship. --
Float copper or
Float gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus liable to be lost. --
Float ore, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop. Raymond. --
Float stone (Arch.), a siliceous stone used to rub stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface. --
Float valve, a valve or cock acted upon by a float. See Float, 1 (b). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Floated; p. pr. & vb. n. Floating. ] [ OE. flotien, flotten, AS. flotian to float, swim, fr. fleótan. See Float, n. ] 1. To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Three blustering nights, borne by the southern blast,
I floated. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to drift along; to move or glide without effort or impulse on the surface of a fluid, or through the air. [ 1913 Webster ]

They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the wind. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

There seems a floating whisper on the hills. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To cause to float; to cause to rest or move on the surface of a fluid; as, the tide floated the ship into the harbor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To flood; to overflow; to cover with water. [ 1913 Webster ]

Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Plastering) To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To support and sustain the credit of, as a commercial scheme or a joint-stock company, so as to enable it to go into, or continue in, operation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That may be floated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Flotage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Flotation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who floats or swims. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A float for indicating the height of a liquid surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Politics) (a) A voter who shifts from party to party, esp. one whose vote is purchasable. [ U. S. ] (b) A person, as a delegate to a convention or a member of a legislature, who represents an irregular constituency, as one formed by a union of the voters of two counties neither of which has a number sufficient to be allowed a (or an extra) representative of its own. [ U. S. ] (c) A person who votes illegally in various polling places or election districts, either under false registration made by himself or under the name of some properly registered person who has not already voted. [ U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. 1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating ribs in man and some other animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as, floating capital; a floating debt. [ 1913 Webster ]

Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Floating anchor (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail. --
Floating battery (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the bombardment of a place. --
Floating bridge. (a) A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. See Bateau. (b) (Mil.) A kind of double bridge, the upper one projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being moved forward by pulleys; -- used for carrying troops over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort. (c) A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power. (d) The landing platform of a ferry dock. --
Floating cartilage (Med.), a cartilage which moves freely in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the functions of the latter. --
Floating dam. (a) An anchored dam. (b) A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock. --
Floating derrick, a derrick on a float for river and harbor use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor improvements, etc. --
Floating dock. (Naut.) See under Dock. --
Floating harbor, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships riding at anchor to leeward. Knight. --
Floating heart (Bot.), a small aquatic plant (Limnanthemum lacunosum) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water of American ponds. --
Floating island, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs. --
Floating kidney. (Med.) See Wandering kidney, under Wandering. --
Floating light, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy or floating stage. --
Floating liver. (Med.) See Wandering liver, under Wandering. --
Floating pier, a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide. --
Floating ribs (Anat.), the lower or posterior ribs which are not connected with the others in front; in man they are the last two pairs. --
Floating screed (Plastering), a strip of plastering first laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the coat. --
Floating threads (Weaving), threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Weaving) Floating threads. See Floating threads, above. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The second coat of three-coat plastering. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The process of rendering oysters and scallops plump by placing them in fresh or brackish water; -- called also fattening, plumping, and laying out. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adv. In a floating manner. [ 1913 Webster ]