float Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the time interval between the deposit of a check in a bank and its payment
  2. noun the number of shares outstanding and available for trading by the public
  3. noun a drink with ice cream floating in it
    ice-cream float; ice-cream soda.
  4. noun an elaborate display mounted on a platform carried by a truck (or pulled by a truck) in a procession or parade
  5. noun a hand tool with a flat face used for smoothing and finishing the surface of plaster or cement or stucco
    plasterer's float.
  6. noun something that floats on the surface of water
  7. noun an air-filled sac near the spinal column in many fishes that helps maintain buoyancy
    swim bladder; air bladder.
  8. verb be in motion due to some air or water current
    blow; be adrift; drift.
    • 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
  9. verb be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom
    swim.
  10. verb set afloat
    • He floated the logs down the river
    • The boy floated his toy boat on the pond
  11. verb circulate or discuss tentatively; test the waters with
    • The Republicans are floating the idea of a tax reform
  12. verb move lightly, as if suspended
    • The dancer floated across the stage
  13. verb put into the water
    • float a ship
  14. verb make the surface of level or smooth
    • float the plaster
  15. verb allow (currencies) to fluctuate
    • The government floated the ruble for a few months
  16. verb convert from a fixed point notation to a floating point notation
    • float data

WordNet

Float noun
Etymology
OE. flote ship, boat, fleet, AS. flota ship, fr. fleótan 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.
Definitions
  1. Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the 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.
    This reform bill . . . had been used as a float by the conservative ministry. J. P. Peters.
  2. A float board. See Float board (below).
  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.
  4. The act of flowing; flux; flow. Obs. Bacon.
  5. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep. Obs. Mortimer.
  6. (Plastering) The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.
  7. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. Knight.
  8. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.
  9. A coal cart. Eng. Simmonds.
  10. The sea; a wave. See Flote, n.
Float intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. flotien, flotten, AS. flotian to float, swim, fr. fleótan. See Float, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Floated; present participle & verbal noun Floating
Definitions
  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. Milton.
    Three blustering nights, borne by the southern blast, I floated. Dryden.
  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. Pope.
    There seems a floating whisper on the hills. Byron.
Float transitive verb
Definitions
  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. Southey.
  2. To flood; to overflow; to cover with water.
    Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands. Dryden.
  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.

Webster 1913