floaty
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: hobbies
lifestyle
nautical
sports
swimming
transport
Etymology: From float (noun or verb) + -y (suffix meaning ‘inclined to’ forming adjectives). Compare Middle English floti, floty (“of a place: well supplied with water”).
Base: float
Affixes: -y
Inflected forms:
form: floatier
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: floatiest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: floaties
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: floatie
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: Tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.
pos: adj
examples: [S]ome fevv buttes of beare being flotie they got, vvhich though it had lien ſix moneths vnder vvater vvas very good, […]
The Oxonians, too, though, judging by avoirdupois, they were big enough for the floatiest outrigger, preferred the old friend in which they had won the 'Varsity in 1878 and 'suffered' last year.
There was no going back to being Mommy Belle, […] the woman who made the "floatiest" matzoh balls on the face of the earth.
[Roger] Federer slices it right back down the same line, slow and floaty with backspin, making [Rafael] Nadal return to the same spot. Nadal slices the ball right back—three shots now all down the same line—and Federer slices the ball to the same spot yet again, this one even slower and floatier, […]
If you're more into powder, try the Monster 82 [a type of ski]; it's a bit floatier and more stable.
gloss: Tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
examples: I then told my Lord of Eſſex that mine vvas a floaty ſhip and vvell appointed for that ſervice; […]
The extream length of a Ship makes her unapt to ſtay, eſpecially if ſhe be floatie and vvant ſharpneſſe of vvay forvvard.
Girdling the ship would make her one of the finest ships in the whole universe, for it would make her much more floatier and carry her guns higher, and she would bear the better sail and be a better and securer ship to receive shot, and I believe it will not prejudice her sailing.
[H]e had been concerned in a Collier, but did not care to be concerned in a Ship that drevv ſo much VVater as Fourteen Foot and a half; but if he vvould buy a Floaty Ship, ſuch an one as he could recommend to him at Yarmouth, he vvould be concerned vvith him, and go 100 l. vvith him, and begin the Trade vvith him aſſoon as he pleaſed.
The reason of my particularizing, and making choice of the Vigilant is, that she is the most Floaty Ship of her Class in this Harbour.
gloss: Of music: light and relaxing.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: All the floaty music in the world could not disguise my grunts [during a massage] as I clenched my teeth and curled my toes to fight the pain.
Notice that this chord seems to be floating up in the air. If you strum Dsus2 instead of D, you can make your chord seem more haunting or drifting. […] This chord [Dsus4] has an even floatier feel than Dsus2 and is out of tune for other chords.
gloss: Of an object: light and flimsy or soft; specifically, of a dress: lightweight, so as to rise away from the body when the wearer is moving.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: O here is a Bed / Shrinkproofer than that, / A floatier, boatier / Bed than that!
But deep down she had a passion for kitchen comforts— […] for a perfectly piped butter icing on top of the highest, lightest, floatiest lemon cupcake.
Flip had spent all morning trimming and styling her hair so it looked as much like her nephew’s as possible. The lady had put on her longest, floatiest dress too, in the hope that the man would be able to fit into it.
Georgette, organza, voile, chiffon […] The floatiest, thinnest fabrics represent obvious mend hazards. Finest needles needed.
gloss: Of a person: feeling calm, dreamy, happy, etc., as if floating in the air.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: [A]s you stand on the steps of the Castle Green in this strange place, you feel quite floaty. This you are told is the scene of the Merthyr riots; and you feel still floatier as you body forth before your eyes a picture like the following— […]
Surprise! Surprise! When the lights flick on in a darkened room and grinning friends spring from behind the sofa, joy jumps up like a jack-in-the-box. We feel bubblier than any vintage champagne, floatier than a bunch of balloons.
gloss: Of speech or writing: overly complicated or elaborate; flowery, grandiloquent.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: [William Butler] Yeats divests himself of his floatier fin-de-siècle rhetoric to discover a hard plain speech both properly twentieth century and pre-nineteenth century.
gloss: A particle of food, etc., found floating in liquid.
pos: noun
tags: informal
examples: Why don't you stop slathering millions of things on your face, and lather up with my gentle Swan? It's the loveliest, pure, mild floatie—why, it'll get you clean as a baby!
I have always loved the way he just walks up and feels free to drink out my glass or bottle of water. I admit, when he was a baby I tried to give him his own sippy cup and avoid the little ‘floaties’ that little ones leave in your drink. But if there was no sippy cup available, I fished out the floaties and drank it anyway.
If I dip my Oreos into milk, once the Oreos are gone I can't drink the milk with the floaties in it no matter how much milk is left.
Ha, try backpacking sometime mister, we drink water that has dirt in it … I mean literally there is dirt in our water bladders (or other floaties like leaves) and we drink it no problem!
gloss: A lilo (inflatable air mattress) or similar object that floats on water and can be lain or sat on.
pos: noun
tags: US
informal
examples: I am going to begin with a confession that seems to me to be startling less for its content than for the sheer number of similar stories that I have heard related among so many of my successful women friends. Prevalent as it is, it always surfaces abruptly, bobbing awkwardly as a lone yellow floatie in the public pool of our conversations.
My best friend just may be the Florida champ of floatie racing. Or she at least has the Cape Canaveral title. She pushed the flamingo floatie to the opposite end of the pool in record time. I come in a distant second, as usual. This, after my best efforts to use my ginormous floatie to bump her off course, splashing us both.
gloss: Synonym of armband (“one of a pair of inflatable plastic bands, normally worn on the upper arms, to help the wearer (often a child) float in water and learn to swim”).
pos: noun
tags: US
in-plural
informal
examples: As an escaped megalodon swims close to a busy beach, we see humanity at its most chompable: chubby kids in floaties, doofuses on pontoons, some dork in a tight Speedo rolling around in one of those big inflatable Zorb balls. But alas, the movie is a gore-free PG-13, and though CGI has long since replaced animatronics as the monster movie's weapon of choice, one thing hasn’t changed: giant killer fish still look like they’re made of rubber.
Derived words: floatily
floatiness
over-floaty
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: kelluva
lang: Old Tupi
word: bebuî
lang: Portuguese
word: flutuante
lang: Swedish
word: flytande