float
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: aeronautics
aerospace
automotive
aviation
banking
biology
business
card-games
commerce
computing
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
finance
insurance
knitting
manufacturing
mathematics
media
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
poker
programming
publishing
retail
sciences
textiles
transport
vehicles
weaving
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.
Inflected forms:
form: floats
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: floating
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: floated
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: floated
pos: verb
tags: past
form: floats
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Helium balloons float in air, while air-filled balloons don't.
gloss: To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The boat floated on the water.
The oil floated on the vinegar.
gloss: To cause something to be suspended in a fluid of greater density.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to float a boat
gloss: To be capable of floating.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: That boat doesn't float.
Oil floats on vinegar.
gloss: To move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I’d love to just float downstream.
gloss: To drift or wander aimlessly.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I’m not sure where they went... they're floating around here somewhere.
Images from my childhood floated through my mind.
gloss: To drift gently through the air.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The balloon floated off into the distance.
gloss: To cause to drift gently through the air, to waft.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To move in a fluid manner.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The dancer floated gracefully around the stage.
gloss: To circulate.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: There's a rumour floating around the office that Jan is pregnant.
gloss: To remain airborne, without touching down, for an excessive length of time during landing, due to excessive airspeed during the landing flare.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: Of an idea or scheme, to be viable.
pos: verb
tags: colloquial
intransitive
examples: That's a daft idea... it'll never float.
gloss: To propose (an idea) for consideration.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I floated the idea of free ice cream on Fridays, but no one was interested.
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.
gloss: To automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To not be tied to a reference.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The yen floats against the dollar.
gloss: To not be tied to a reference.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The government floated the pound in January.
Increased pressure on Thailand’s currency, the baht, in 1997 led to a crisis that forced the government to float the currency.
gloss: To not be tied to a reference.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To extend a short-term loan to.
pos: verb
tags: colloquial
transitive
examples: Could you float me $50 until payday?
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: "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.
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.
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.
gloss: To spread plaster over (a surface), using the tool called a float.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To use a float (rasp-like tool) upon.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: It is time to float this horse's teeth.
gloss: To transport by float (vehicular trailer).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To perform a float.
pos: verb
gloss: To cause (an element within a document) to float above or beside others.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: To get the footer acting right, you need to float it and clear it on both margins.
gloss: 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
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: A buoyant device used to support something in water or another liquid.
pos: noun
examples: Attach the float and the weight to the fishing line, above the hook.
'What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. 'Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'
gloss: A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.
pos: noun
gloss: A float board.
pos: noun
gloss: A tool similar to a rasp, used in various trades.
pos: noun
gloss: A sort of trowel used for finishing concrete surfaces or smoothing plaster.
pos: noun
examples: When pouring a new driveway, you can use a two-by-four as a float.
gloss: An elaborately decorated trailer or vehicle, intended for display in a parade or pageant.
pos: noun
examples: That float covered in roses is very pretty.
gloss: A floating toy made of foam, used in swimming pools.
pos: noun
gloss: A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially in the term milk float.
pos: noun
tags: UK
examples: As soon as the skies brightened and plum-blossom was out, Paul drove off in the milkman's heavy float up to Willey Farm.
gloss: Funds committed to be paid but not yet paid.
pos: noun
examples: Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
examples: 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.
gloss: The total amount of checks/cheques or other drafts written against a bank account but not yet cleared and charged against the account.
pos: noun
examples: No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished.
gloss: Premiums taken in but not yet paid out.
pos: noun
examples: We make a lot of interest from our nightly float.
gloss: A floating-point number, especially one that has lower precision than a double.
pos: noun
examples: That routine should not have used an int; it should be a float.
If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats.
gloss: A soft beverage with a scoop of ice cream floating in it.
pos: noun
examples: I don't consider anything other than root-beer with vanilla ice cream to be a "real" float.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: A weft thread that passes over two or more warp threads (or less commonly, warp over weft).
pos: noun
examples: I knew that a simple float on the surface of the Merino might catch if I made it big enough to show very much.
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.
gloss: A loose strand of yarn that passes behind one or more stitches when knitting with multiple yarns.
pos: noun
gloss: A decorative rod that extends over the body of a basket without being attached for part of its length.
pos: noun
examples: Rod Basket with Serpentine Floats
gloss: A car carrier or car transporter truck or truck-and-trailer combination.
pos: noun
gloss: A lowboy trailer.
pos: noun
gloss: The act of flowing; flux; flow.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: Hee being now in Float for Treasure.
gloss: A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.
pos: noun
examples: The machinery consists of two saws, a polishing table, a float for grinding marble, and a ripping saw for cutting slabs.
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.
Next , finishers rub a float — a small and smooth, rectangular piece of wood — over the entire surface, carefully avoiding edges and joints.
Floated: Obtained by successive passages with a wooden float on the coat's surface until it is flat and uniform
gloss: A coal cart.
pos: noun
tags: UK
dated
gloss: A breakdancing move in which the body is held parallel to the floor while balancing on one or both hands.
pos: noun
gloss: A visual style on a web page that causes the styled elements to float above or beside others.
pos: noun
examples: Because margin floats don't collapse together, the actual spacing between two floats sitting next to each other will be 6 pixels […]
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.
gloss: The gas-filled sac, bag, or body of a siphonophore; a pneumatophore.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
Derived words: 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
Carley float
clean float
coke float
dead man's float
dirty float
float glass
float-on float-off
floatplane
float switch
float tank
float tube
float-zone silicon
free float
grout float
hard float
ice cream float
ice-float
information float
managed float
peg float
root beer float
soft float
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: kellua
lang: Finnish
word: keijua
lang: Finnish
word: leijua
lang: Persian
word: شناوری
roman: šenāvari
lang: Spanish
word: flotar
lang: Tooro
word: -seereera
lang: Afrikaans
word: sierwa
lang: Catalan
word: carrossa
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 花車 /花车
roman: huāchē
lang: Czech
word: alegorický vůz
lang: Dutch
word: praalwagen
lang: Esperanto
word: ĉaro
lang: Esperanto
word: paradĉaro
lang: Finnish
word: paraatiauto
lang: French
word: char
lang: German
word: Festwagen
lang: Irish
word: flóta
lang: Italian
word: carro allegorico
lang: Portuguese
word: carro alegórico
lang: Romanian
word: car alegoric
lang: Russian
word: платфо́рма
roman: platfórma
lang: Spanish
word: carroza
lang: Tagalog
word: karosa
lang: Tagalog
word: karang
lang: Welsh
word: car sioe