Floating

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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 [gcide]:

  Floating \Float"ing\, a.
     1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a
        wreck; floating motes in the air.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating
        ribs in man and some other animals.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as,
        floating capital; a floating debt.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been
              withdrawn in great masses from the island.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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. --Knight.
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Floating \Float"ing\, n.
     1. (Weaving) Floating threads. See {Floating threads}, above.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The second coat of three-coat plastering. --Knight.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The process of rendering oysters and scallops plump by
        placing them in fresh or brackish water; -- called also
        {fattening}, {plumping}, and {laying out}.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.] Floating charge

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  floating
       adj 1: continually changing especially as from one abode or
              occupation to another; "a drifting double-dealer";
              "the floating population"; "vagrant hippies of the
              sixties" [syn: {aimless}, {drifting}, {vagabond}, {vagrant}]
       2: inclined to move or be moved about; "a floating crap game"
       3: (of a part of the body) not firmly connected; movable or out
          of normal position; "floating ribs are not connected with
          the sternum"; "a floating kidney" [syn: {floating(a)}]
       4: not definitely committed to a party or policy; "floating
          voters" [syn: {floating(a)}]
       5: borne up by or suspended in a liquid; "the ship is still
          floating"; "floating logs"; "floating seaweed"
       n : the act of someone who floats on the water

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  119 Moby Thesaurus words for "floating":
     Australian crawl, Hare system, PR, absentee voting, adrift, afloat,
     aquaplaning, aquatics, awash, backstroke, ballot-box stuffing,
     balneation, bathe, bathing, breaststroke, buoyant, butterfly,
     card voting, circumforaneous, clear, colonization, coming out,
     crawl, cumulative system, cumulative voting, curtain raiser, debut,
     discursive, divagatory, diving, dog paddle, drifting,
     election fraud, embarkation, embarkment, errant, fin,
     first appearance, fishtail, flapper, flipper, flitting, floatable,
     floaty, flotation, footloose, footloose and fancy-free, free,
     fugitive, gadding, gypsy-like, gypsyish, inaugural address,
     inauguration, induction, initiation, installation, installment,
     introduction, landloping, launching, list system, loose,
     maiden speech, meandering, migrational, migratory, natation, nomad,
     nomadic, opener, plural system, preferential system,
     preferential voting, preliminary, proportional representation,
     proxy voting, rambling, ranging, repeating, rickety, roaming,
     roving, shaky, shifting, sidestroke, single system,
     single transferrable vote, single-member district, straggling,
     straying, strolling, supernatant, surfboarding, surfing, swim,
     swimming, traipsing, transient, transitory, transmigratory,
     treading water, unanchored, unbound, undone, unfastened, unfixed,
     unstuck, untied, unveiling, vagabond, vagrant, vote, voting,
     voting machine, wading, wandering, water-borne, waterskiing