‖n. [ Sp. See Flotilla. ] A fleet; especially, a &unr_;eet of Spanish ships which formerly sailed every year from Cadiz to Vera Cruz, in Mexico, to transport to Spain the production of Spanish America. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. flotage, F. flottage, fr. flotter to float. ] 1. The state of floating. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which floats on the sea or in rivers. [ Written also floatage. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OF. flotant, F. flottant, p. pr. of flotter to float. ] (Her.) Represented as flying or streaming in the air; as, a banner flotant. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. flottation a floating, flottaison water line, fr. flotter to float. See Flotilla. ] 1. The act, process, or state of floating. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The science of floating bodies. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Com. & Finance) Act of financing, or floating, a commercial venture or an issue of bonds, stock, or the like. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Center of flotation. (Shipbuilding) (a) The center of any given plane of flotation. (b) More commonly, the middle of the length of the load water line. Rankine. --
Plane of flotation, or
Line of flotation, the plane or line in which the horizontal surface of a fluid cuts a body floating in it. See Bearing, n., 9 (c). --
Surface of flotation (Shipbuilding), the imaginary surface which all the planes of flotation touch when a vessel rolls or pitches; the envelope of all such planes. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A process of separating the substances contained in pulverized ore or the like by depositing the mixture on the surface of a flowing liquid, the substances that are quickly wet readily overcoming the surface tension of the liquid and sinking, the others flowing off in a film or slime on the surface, though, perhaps, having a greater specific gravity than those that sink. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]