adv. & a. [ Pref. a- + float. ] 1. Borne on the water; floating; on board ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

On such a full sea are we now afloat. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Moving; passing from place to place; in general circulation; as, a rumor is afloat. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Unfixed; moving without guide or control; adrift; as, our affairs are all afloat. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Covered with water bearing floating articles; flooded; as, the decks are afloat. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. To dry (herrings) in smoke. See Blote. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bloated; p. pr. & vb. n. Bloating. ] [ Cf. Icel. blotna to become soft, blautr soft, wet, Sw. blöt soft, blöta to soak; akin to G. bloss bare, and AS. bleát wretched; or perh. fr. root of Eng. 5th blow. Cf. Blote. ] 1. To make turgid, as with water or air; to cause a swelling of the surface of, from effusion of serum in the cellular tissue, producing a morbid enlargement, often accompanied with softness. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To inflate; to puff up; to make vain. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To grow turgid as by effusion of liquid in the cellular tissue; to puff out; to swell. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bloated. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A term of contempt for a worthless, dissipated fellow. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

p. a. Distended beyond the natural or usual size, as by the presence of water, serum, etc.; turgid; swollen; as, a bloated face. Also, puffed up with pride; pompous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being bloated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Bloat, Blote. ] The common herring, esp. when of large size, smoked, and half dried; -- called also bloat herring. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a small float usually made of cork; attached to a fishing line.
Syn. -- bob, bobber, cork. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A firearm which receives its load at the breech. [ 1913 Webster ]

For cavalry, the revolver and breechloader will supersede the saber. Rep. Sec. War (1860). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Receiving the charge at the breech instead of at the muzzle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. as much as will fill or load a cart; the quantity that a cart holds. In excavating and carting sand, gravel, earth, etc., one third of a cubic yard of the material before it is loosened is estimated to be a cart load. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Gr. &unr_; to be green. ] (Med.) A cutaneous affection characterized by yellow or yellowish brown pigmented spots. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Cloacæ [ L. ] 1. A sewer; as, the Cloaca Maxima of Rome. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A privy. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Anat.) The common chamber into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals discharge in birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many fishes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a cloaca. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Of. cloque cloak (from the bell-like shape), bell, F. cloche bell; perh. of Celtic origin and the same word as E. clock. See 1st Clock. ] 1. A loose outer garment, extending from the neck downwards, and commonly without sleeves. It is longer than a cape, and is worn both by men and by women. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which conceals; a disguise or pretext; an excuse; a fair pretense; a mask; a cover. [ 1913 Webster ]

No man is esteemed any ways considerable for policy who wears religion otherwise than as a cloak. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cloak bag, a bag in which a cloak or other clothes are carried; a portmanteau. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cloaked p. pr. & vb. n. Cloaking. ] To cover with, or as with, a cloak; hence, to hide or conceal. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now glooming sadly, so to cloak her matter. Spenser.

Syn. -- See Palliate. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a concealed manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of covering with a cloak; the act of concealing anything. [ 1913 Webster ]

To take heed of their dissemblings and cloakings. Strype. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The material of which of which cloaks are made. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A room, attached to any place of public resort, where cloaks, overcoats, etc., may be deposited for a time. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To take off a cloak from; to uncloak. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. annual or perennial succulent grasses of warm regions.
Syn. -- genus Echinochloa. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

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 ]

n. a plane equipped with pontoons for landing or taking off from water.
Syn. -- pontoon plane, seaplane. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Swimming on the surface; buoyant; light. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ See Gloom, Glum. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To begin to grow dark; to grow dusky. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be sullen or morose. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The twilight; gloaming. [ R. ] Keats. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Gloom. ] 1. Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [ Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry. ] Hogg. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Sullenness; melancholy. [ Obs. ] J. Still. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ OD. gloeren, glueren, gluyeren. Cf. Glower. ] To squint; to stare. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Gloated; p. pr. & vb. n. Gloating. ] [ Akin to Icel. glotta to smile scornfully, G. glotzen to gloat. ] To look steadfastly; to gaze earnestly; to gaze with passionate desire, lust, or avarice. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To gaze with malignant satisfaction; to exult maliciously, sometimes also triumphantly, in another's loss or discomfort; -- usually in a bad sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

In vengeance gloating on another's pain. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Halloo. [ 1913 Webster ]

interj., n. & v. i. Same as Hollo. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Native name. ] (Zool.) A black, two-horned, African rhinoceros (Atelodus keitloa). It has the posterior horn about as long as the anterior one, or even longer. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ etc. } (Law) A charge, lien, etc., that successively attaches to such assets as a person may have from time to time, leaving him more or less free to dispose of or encumber them as if no such charge or lien existed.

n. [ OE. loche, F. loche. ] (Zool.) Any one of several small, fresh-water, cyprinoid fishes of the genera Cobitis, Nemachilus, and allied genera, having six or more barbules around the mouth. They are found in Europe and Asia. The common European species (Nemachilus barbatulus) is used as a food fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. lode load, way; properly the same word as lode, but confused with lade, load, v. See Lade, Lead, v., Lode. ] 1. A burden; that which is laid on or put in anything for conveyance; that which is borne or sustained; a weight; as, a heavy load. [ 1913 Webster ]

He might such a load
To town with his ass carry. Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The quantity which can be carried or drawn in some specified way; the contents of a cart, barrow, or vessel; that which will constitute a cargo; lading. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which burdens, oppresses, or grieves the mind or spirits; as, a load of care. “ A . . . load of guilt.” Ray. “ Our life's a load.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A particular measure for certain articles, being as much as may be carried at one time by the conveyance commonly used for the article measured; as, a load of wood; a load of hay; specifically, five quarters. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The charge of a firearm; as, a load of powder. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Weight or violence of blows. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mach.) The work done by a steam engine or other prime mover when working. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. The amount of work that a person, group, or machine is assigned to perform; as, the boss distributed the load evenly among his employees. [ PJC ]

9. (Elec.) The device or devices that consume power from a power supply. [ PJC ]

10. (Engineering) The weight or force that a structural support bears or is designed to bear; the object that creates that force. [ PJC ]

Load line, or
Load water line (Naut.), the line on the outside of a vessel indicating the depth to which it sinks in the water when loaded.

Syn. -- Burden; lading; weight; cargo. See Burden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Loaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Loading. Loaden is obsolete, and laden belongs to lade. ] 1. To lay a load or burden on or in, as on a horse or in a cart; to charge with a load, as a gun; to furnish with a lading or cargo, as a ship; hence, to add weight to, so as to oppress or embarrass; to heap upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

I strive all in vain to load the cart. Gascoigne. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have loaden me with many spoils. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those honors deep and broad, wherewith
Your majesty loads our house. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To adulterate or drug; as, to load wine. [ Cant ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To magnetize. [ Obs. ] Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

Loaded dice, dice with one side made heavier than the others, so that the number on the opposite side will come up oftenest. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. (Arch.) Supporting a load{ 10 } from parts of a structure above; as, a load-bearing wall. [ prenominal ]
Syn. -- supporting(prenominal). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. containing as much or as many as is possible; -- of containers, vehicles, trays, etc.; as, a tray loaded with dishes
Syn. -- laden. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. containing a shell or an explosive charge ready for firing; -- of firearms. Opposite of unloaded. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. charged with associative significance and often meant to mislead or influence; -- of statements or questions; as, a loaded question.
WordNet 1.5 ]

4. having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value; as, She was not merely rich but loaded.
Syn. -- affluent, flush, moneyed, wealthy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

5. very drunk. [ slang ]
Syn. -- blotto, crocked, fuddled, pissed, pixilated, plastered, potty, slopped, sloshed, smashed, soused, sozzled, squiffy, stiff, tiddly, tiddley, tight, tipsy, wet. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who, or that which, loads; a mechanical contrivance for loading, as a gun. [ 1913 Webster ]