float
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
float
n 1: the time interval between the deposit of a check in a bank
and its payment
2: the number of shares outstanding and available for trading by
the public
3: a drink with ice cream floating in it [syn: {ice-cream soda},
{ice-cream float}, {float}]
4: an elaborate display mounted on a platform carried by a truck
(or pulled by a truck) in a procession or parade
5: a hand tool with a flat face used for smoothing and finishing
the surface of plaster or cement or stucco [syn: {float},
{plasterer's float}]
6: something that floats on the surface of water
7: an air-filled sac near the spinal column in many fishes that
helps maintain buoyancy [syn: {air bladder}, {swim bladder},
{float}]
v 1: be in motion due to some air or water current; "The leaves
were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake";
"The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked
boat drifted away from the shore" [syn: {float}, {drift},
{be adrift}, {blow}]
2: be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to
the bottom [syn: {float}, {swim}] [ant: {go down}, {go
under}, {settle}, {sink}]
3: set afloat; "He floated the logs down the river"; "The boy
floated his toy boat on the pond"
4: circulate or discuss tentatively; test the waters with; "The
Republicans are floating the idea of a tax reform"
5: move lightly, as if suspended; "The dancer floated across the
stage"
6: put into the water; "float a ship"
7: make the surface of level or smooth; "float the plaster"
8: allow (currencies) to fluctuate; "The government floated the
ruble for a few months"
9: convert from a fixed point notation to a floating point
notation; "float data"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Float \Float\ (fl[=o]t), n.[OE. flote ship, boat, fleet, AS.
flota ship, fr. fle['o]tan to float; akin to D. vloot fleet,
G. floss raft, Icel. floti float, raft, fleet, Sw. flotta.
[root] 84. See {Fleet}, v. i., and cf. {Flotilla}, {Flotsam},
{Plover}.]
1. Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid,
as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the
liquid surface, or mark the place of, something.
Specifically:
(a) A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and
conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.
(b) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet,
which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler.
(c) The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait
line, and indicate the bite of a fish.
(d) Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink;
an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to
swim; a life preserver.
(e) The hollow, metallic ball which floats on the fuel in
the fuel tank of a vehicle to indicate the level of
the fuel surface, and thus the amount of fuel
remaining.
(f) A hollow elongated tank mounted under the wing of a
seaplane which causes the plane to float when resting
on the surface of the water.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
This reform bill . . . had been used as a float
by the conservative ministry. --J. P.
Peters.
[1913 Webster]
2. A float board. See {Float board} (below).
[1913 Webster]
3. (Tempering) A contrivance for affording a copious stream
of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk,
as an anvil or die. --Knight.
[1913 Webster]
4. The act of flowing; flux; flow. [Obs.] --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
5. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot
deep. [Obs.] --Mortimer.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Plastering) The trowel or tool with which the floated
coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.
[1913 Webster]
7. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.
--Knight.
[1913 Webster]
8. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers
for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.
[1913 Webster]
9. A coal cart. [Eng.] --Simmonds.
[1913 Webster]
10. The sea; a wave. See {Flote}, n.
[1913 Webster]
11. (Banking) The free use of money for a time between
occurrence of a transaction (such as depositing a check
or a purchase made using a credit card), and the time
when funds are withdrawn to cover the transaction; also,
the money made available between transactions in that
manner.
[PJC]
12. a vehicle on which an exhibit or display is mounted,
driven or pulled as part of a parade. The float often is
based on a large flat platform, and may contain a very
elaborate structure with a tableau or people.
[PJC]
{Float board}, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of
an undershot water wheel or of a steamer's paddle wheel;
-- a vane.
{Float case} (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship.
{Float copper} or {Float gold} (Mining), fine particles of
metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus
liable to be lost.
{Float ore}, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein
material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop.
--Raymond.
{Float stone} (Arch.), a siliceous stone used to rub
stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface.
{Float valve}, a valve or cock acted upon by a float. See
{Float}, 1
(b) .
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Float \Float\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Floated}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Floating}.] [OE. flotien, flotten, AS. flotian to float,
swim, fr. fle['o]tan. See {Float}, n.]
1. To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed
up.
[1913 Webster]
The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Three blustering nights, borne by the southern
blast,
I floated. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to
drift along; to move or glide without effort or impulse on
the surface of a fluid, or through the air.
[1913 Webster]
They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the
wind. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
There seems a floating whisper on the hills.
--Byron.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Float \Float\, v. t.
1. To cause to float; to cause to rest or move on the surface
of a fluid; as, the tide floated the ship into the harbor.
[1913 Webster]
Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock.
--Southey.
[1913 Webster]
2. To flood; to overflow; to cover with water.
[1913 Webster]
Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Plastering) To pass over and level the surface of with a
float while the plastering is kept wet.
[1913 Webster]
4. To support and sustain the credit of, as a commercial
scheme or a joint-stock company, so as to enable it to go
into, or continue in, operation.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
160 Moby Thesaurus words for "float":
Carling float, arrange, ascend, aspire, balsa, balsa raft, barge,
bathe, bear up, become airborne, boat, bob, boom, brandish,
bring off, bring up, broach, bundle, bundle off, buoy, buoy up,
bus, carry off, cart, christen, claw skyward, coach, consummate,
cork, dart, deluge, dip, dive, dray, drift, drown, duck, dunk,
effect, establish, ferry, flap, flaunt, float high, flood,
flourish, flow on, flutter, fly, fly aloft, foot, found,
gain altitude, get, get going, get moving, ghost, give a start,
glide, go in swimming, go in wading, go public, hang, haul,
hold up, hover, inaugurate, induct, initiate, install, institute,
introduce, inundate, issue, issue stock, kick off, kite, launch,
leave the ground, levitate, life buoy, life preserver, life raft,
lift up, lighter, negotiate, organize, plane, platform,
plow the deep, poise, pontoon, pour on, pull off, put in motion,
raft, rain, raise, ride, ride high, ride the sea, ring in, rise,
run, sail, scud, send, send forth, send off, set afloat,
set agoing, set going, set in motion, set on foot, set up, shake,
ship, shoot, skim, skinny-dip, sled, sledge, slip, sluice, soar,
spire, start, start going, start off, start up, submerge,
surfboard, sustain, swamp, swim, swing, take off, transact,
tread water, truck, turn on, undulate, upbear, uphold, uplift,
upraise, usher in, van, wade, waft, wag, wagon, walk the waters,
wash, wave, wheelbarrow, whelm, wield, wigwag, zoom
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