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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 Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island."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



... dawn as the two passed over the bridge and by the miller's house, and they could see the fish floating dead on the surface of the mill-race, and poor Oscar the dog lying stretched on the bank, with his tongue hanging out stiff and cold. And silently wondering at all these strange things the little ...
— Fifty-Two Stories For Girls • Various
... got our attention completely fixed upon this here floating joker, the real sub might have sneaked up within range and sent us a lover's note in the shape ...
— Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns - Sinking the German U-Boats • Halsey Davidson
... visitable families could be entirely left out. No youthful figure there was comparable to Gwendolen's as she passed through the long suite of rooms adorned with light and flowers, and, visible at first as a slim figure floating along in white drapery, approached through one wide doorway after another into fuller illumination and definiteness. She had never had that sort of promenade before, and she felt exultingly that it befitted her: any one looking at her for the first time might have supposed that ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot
... a little paler than they ought to be. But the little veins traversing the whites of the eyes have already assumed a very encouraging appearance. The blood is almost entirely restored. What is the blood? Red globules floating in serum, or a sort of whey. The serum in poor Fougas was dried up in his veins; the water which we have gradually introduced by a slow endosmose has saturated the albumen and fibrin of the serum, which is returned to ...
— The Man With The Broken Ear • Edmond About
... been shipwrecked? Floating around in an open boat? Didn't believe it was done, except in Perilous Polly Feature Fillum Bunk! Ph-e-ew!" and Little relapsed into ...
— Gold Out of Celebes • Aylward Edward Dingle


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