float
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /fləʊt/
ipa: /floʊt/
rhymes: -əʊt
Forms: form: floats
form: floating
form: floated
form: floated
Etymology: From Middle English floten, from Old English flotian (“to float”), from Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-, *plew- (“to float, swim, fly”). Compare flow, fleet.
Senses: examples: text: Helium balloons float in air, while air-filled balloons don't.
synonyms: ride
glosses: To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).
raw_tags: of an object or substance
examples: text: The boat floated on the water.
text: The oil floated on the vinegar.
synonyms: ride
swim
glosses: To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).
To be supported by a liquid of greater density, such that part (of the object or substance) remains above the surface.
raw_tags: of an object or substance
examples: text: to float a boat
glosses: To cause something to be suspended in a fluid of greater density.
examples: text: That boat doesn't float.
text: Oil floats on vinegar.
glosses: To be capable of floating.
examples: text: I’d love to just float downstream.
glosses: To move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating.
examples: text: I’m not sure where they went... they're floating around here somewhere.
text: Images from my childhood floated through my mind.
glosses: To drift or wander aimlessly.
examples: text: The balloon floated off into the distance.
synonyms: stream
glosses: To drift gently through the air.
examples: text: Over the tree-tops I float thee a song, / Over the rising and sinking waves, over the myriad fields and the prairies wide, / Over the dense-pack’d cities all and the teeming wharves and ways, / I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee O death.
ref: 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:
synonyms: stream
glosses: To cause to drift gently through the air, to waft.
examples: text: The dancer floated gracefully around the stage.
glosses: To move in a fluid manner.
examples: text: There's a rumour floating around the office that Jan is pregnant.
glosses: To circulate.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To remain airborne, without touching down, for an excessive length of time during landing, due to excessive airspeed during the landing flare.
examples: text: That's a daft idea... it'll never float.
glosses: Of an idea or scheme, to be viable.
examples: text: I floated the idea of free ice cream on Fridays, but no one was interested.
text: Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, also floated the idea of turning Canada into a U.S. state, said he would demand far higher defense spending from NATO allies and promised to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
ref: 2025 January 8, Steve Holland, Joseph Ax, “Trump won't rule out force to take Panama Canal, Greenland”, in USA Today, sourced from Reuters, →ISSN, →OCLC, Nation & World, page 1NN, columns 3–4:
glosses: To propose (an idea) for consideration.
glosses: To automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.
examples: text: The yen floats against the dollar.
topics: business
finance
glosses: To not be tied to a reference.
(of currencies) To have an exchange value determined by the markets, as opposed to by central fiat.
examples: text: The government floated the pound in January.
text: Increased pressure on Thailand’s currency, the baht, in 1997 led to a crisis that forced the government to float the currency.
topics: business
finance
glosses: To not be tied to a reference.
To allow (the exchange value of a currency) to be determined by the markets.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To not be tied to a reference.
To be not connected or referenced to a known reference voltage.
examples: text: Could you float me $50 until payday?
glosses: To extend a short-term loan to.
examples: text: "Peg out a claim wherever you like and we will float it," was the substance of many a code of instructions sent by unprincipled men in the mining world of the colonies to the gold prospectors in Port Darwin.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 210:
text: He [Mario Moretti Polegato] floated the company on the Milan Stock Exchange last December and sold 29 per cent of its shares, mostly to American investors.
ref: 2005 June 21, Dewi Cooke, The Age:
ref: 2007, Jonathan Reuvid, Floating Your Company: The Essential Guide to Going Public:
text: 2011, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, footnote i, page 269,
As a result of this reverse acquisition, Hurlingham changed its name to Manroy plc and floated shares on the Alternative Investment Market in London.
topics: business
finance
glosses: To issue or sell shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, followed by listing on a stock exchange.
examples: text: This wire, nailed over the face of the old plaster will also reinforce any loose lath or plaster after the walls have set. Float the wall to the face of the lath first.
ref: 1932, The Bricklayer, Mason and Plasterer, volumes 35-37, page 35:
glosses: To spread plaster over (a surface), using the tool called a float.
examples: text: It is time to float this horse's teeth.
glosses: To use a float (rasp-like tool) upon.
glosses: To transport by float (vehicular trailer).
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: To perform a float.
examples: text: To get the footer acting right, you need to float it and clear it on both margins.
ref: 2010, Andy Harris, HTML, XHTML and CSS All-In-One For Dummies, page 290:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
media
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
publishing
sciences
glosses: To cause (an element within a document) to float above or beside others.
examples: text: You can't just close the drawer, log in to the till and start serving customers, telling them you're only taking card payments and that they should gonto another till if they're paying in cash. The till needs to be floated first, so ask the manager on the headset if you can use it and she'll float it and let you know when you can start serving.
topics: business
commerce
retail
glosses: To prepare a till (cash register) for operation, either by putting a float (cash amount) in the cash drawer to provide change for customers making cash payments or (by extension) by recording the time a till starts being used for card payments if it is card-only
Derived terms: afloat
armfloat
defloat
firefloat
floatability
floatable
floatant
float around
float at
floatboard
floatel
floater
floatie
floatless
float like a butterfly
floatline
floatmaker
floatovoltaic
floatovoltaics
floatsome
float someone's boat
floatstick
floatstone
float with the stream
floaty
flotate
flotation
flotel
flutter
free-floating
my back teeth are floating
my teeth are floating
nonfloated
outfloat
overfloat
refloat
upfloat
whatever floats your boat