Word: float Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English flote, from Old English flota (“sailor, boat”), from Proto-West Germanic *flotō, from Proto-Germanic *flutô, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-. Pronunciation: /fləʊt/, /floʊt/, /fləʉt/, /flɐʉt/ 1. A buoyant device used to support something in water or another liquid. Example: Attach the float and the weight to the fishing line, above the hook. Example: 'What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. 'Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.' 2. A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft. 3. A float board. 4. A tool similar to a rasp, used in various trades. 5. A sort of trowel used for finishing concrete surfaces or smoothing plaster. Example: When pouring a new driveway, you can use a two-by-four as a float. 6. An elaborately decorated trailer or vehicle, intended for display in a parade or pageant. Example: That float covered in roses is very pretty. 7. A floating toy made of foam, used in swimming pools. 8. A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially in the term milk float. Labels: UK Example: As soon as the skies brightened and plum-blossom was out, Paul drove off in the milkman's heavy float up to Willey Farm. 9. Funds committed to be paid but not yet paid. Example: Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit. 10. An offering of shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, normally followed by a listing on a stock exchange. Labels: Australia Example: You don't actually need a broker to buy shares in a float when a company is about to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. 11. The total amount of checks/cheques or other drafts written against a bank account but not yet cleared and charged against the account. Example: No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished. 12. Premiums taken in but not yet paid out. Example: We make a lot of interest from our nightly float. 13. A floating-point number, especially one that has lower precision than a double. Example: That routine should not have used an int; it should be a float. Example: If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats. 14. A soft beverage with a scoop of ice cream floating in it. Example: I don't consider anything other than root-beer with vanilla ice cream to be a "real" float. 15. A small sum of money put in a cashier's till, or otherwise secured, at the start of business, to enable change to be made. 16. A maneuver where a player calls on the flop or turn with a weak hand, with the intention of bluffing after a subsequent community card. 17. A weft thread that passes over two or more warp threads (or less commonly, warp over weft). Example: I knew that a simple float on the surface of the Merino might catch if I made it big enough to show very much. Example: The appearance of a waffle fabric changes drastically with washing. Yarns differ, but most relax and twist and curl in the long floats when washed; the severe rectilinear design of the waffle cells in unwashed waffle weave fabric will soften dramatically. 18. A loose strand of yarn that passes behind one or more stitches when knitting with multiple yarns. 19. A decorative rod that extends over the body of a basket without being attached for part of its length. Example: Rod Basket with Serpentine Floats 20. A car carrier or car transporter truck or truck-and-trailer combination. 21. A lowboy trailer. 22. The act of flowing; flux; flow. Labels: obsolete Example: Hee being now in Float for Treasure. 23. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. Example: The machinery consists of two saws, a polishing table, a float for grinding marble, and a ripping saw for cutting slabs. Example: Float Machinist— One who squares up, faces, noses or chamfers on a float all marble, slate, or similar stones, and including terrazzo or similar compositions. 24. A coal cart. Labels: UK, dated 25. A breakdancing move in which the body is held parallel to the floor while balancing on one or both hands. 26. A visual style on a web page that causes the styled elements to float above or beside others. Example: Because margin floats don't collapse together, the actual spacing between two floats sitting next to each other will be 6 pixels […] Example: When a float cannot fit next to another float, it moves down below it. A float's position, size, padding, borders, and margins affect the position of adjacent floats and adjacent inline content. 27. The gas-filled sac, bag, or body of a siphonophore; a pneumatophore. 28. Any object (element) whose location in composition (page makeup, pagination) does not flow within body text but rather floats outside of it, usually anchored loosely (in buoy metaphor) to spots within it (citations, callouts): a figure (image), table, box, pull quote, ornament, or other floated element.