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Floating   /flˈoʊtɪŋ/   Listen
adjective
Floating  adj.  
1.
Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air.
2.
Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating ribs in man and some other animals.
3.
Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as, floating capital; a floating debt. "Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island."
Floating anchor (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail.
Floating battery (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the bombardment of a place.
Floating bridge.
(a)
A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. See Bateau.
(b)
(Mil.) A kind of double bridge, the upper one projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being moved forward by pulleys; used for carrying troops over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort.
(c)
A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power.
(d)
The landing platform of a ferry dock.
Floating cartilage (Med.), a cartilage which moves freely in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the functions of the latter.
Floating dam.
(a)
An anchored dam.
(b)
A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock.
Floating derrick, a derrick on a float for river and harbor use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor improvements, etc.
Floating dock. (Naut.) See under Dock.
Floating harbor, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships riding at anchor to leeward.
Floating heart (Bot.), a small aquatic plant (Limnanthemum lacunosum) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water of American ponds.
Floating island, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs.
Floating kidney. (Med.) See Wandering kidney, under Wandering.
Floating light, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy or floating stage.
Floating liver. (Med.) See Wandering liver, under Wandering.
Floating pier, a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide.
Floating ribs (Anat.), the lower or posterior ribs which are not connected with the others in front; in man they are the last two pairs.
Floating screed (Plastering), a strip of plastering first laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the coat.
Floating threads (Weaving), threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric.


verb
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. "Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock."
2.
To flood; to overflow; to cover with water. "Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands."
3.
(Plastering) To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet.
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.


Float  v. i.  (past & past part. floated; pres. part. floating)  
1.
To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up. "The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground." "Three blustering nights, borne by the southern blast, I floated."
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. "They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the wind." "There seems a floating whisper on the hills."


noun
Floating  n.  
1.
(Weaving) Floating threads. See Floating threads, above.
2.
The second coat of three-coat plastering.
3.
The process of rendering oysters and scallops plump by placing them in fresh or brackish water; called also fattening, plumping, and laying out.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Floating" Quotes from Famous Books



... had a broad, level field for its roost; the duck, bobbing with the waves after it came down, had its wings folded as became a bird at rest, after its engines stopped, and, a dead thing, was lifted on board its floating home with a crane, as cargo is ...
— My Year of the War • Frederick Palmer
... disease is frequently though not always of a bilious character—that is an abundance of bile is found floating in the stomach or intestines. There seems to be neither torpor nor enlargement of the liver which have characterized the diseases of this country for 21 years past; hence culomel especially in the beginning ...
— Seaport in Virginia - George Washington's Alexandria • Gay Montague Moore
... answered Brockton. "I may return day after to-morrow or I may be detained there a week or longer. It's a big job, you know—in connection with floating a big issue of railroad bonds. There's a barrel of money in it. I may not get back before ...
— The Easiest Way - A Story of Metropolitan Life • Eugene Walter and Arthur Hornblow
... only: roses, Pink and white and red, Shining down the warm rich garden closes; Quiet trees and lawns of dappled shadow, Silver lilies, whisper of mignonette, Cloth-of-gold of buttercups outspread; Good gold sun that kissed me when we met, Shadows of floating clouds on sunny meadow. In the hay-field, scented, grey, Loving life and love, I lay; By fresh airs blown, drifted into sleep; Slept and dreamed ...
— Many Voices • E. Nesbit
... paper, he said, might be set down as floating security, the value of which was so prospective, depending as it did upon his future good behavior as well as the fortunes of his party, that he did not feel inclined to purchase any very large amount of it. However, as he liked to be considered as a man of good parts, and as I had ...
— The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter • "Pheleg Van Trusedale"


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