Link Centre Dictionary

float

UK/fləʊt/ US/floʊt/ fairly common uk
verb (9) noun (6)

verb

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”
Synonyms
2.

be afloat; stay on a liquid surface; not sink

Synonyms
Antonyms
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”

noun

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.
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

Synonyms
6.

something that remains on the surface of a liquid

Origin

From Middle English floten, from Old English flotian (“to float”), from Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-, *plew- (“to float, swim, fly”). Compare flow, fleet.

Phrases

  • Carley float
  • clean float
  • coke float
  • dead man's float
  • dirty float
  • float around
  • float at
  • float glass
  • float like a butterfly
  • float someone's boat
  • float switch
  • float with the stream

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.