Pronunciations (6)
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/fləʊt/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/floʊt/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
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/fləʉt/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
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/flɐʉt/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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fləʊt
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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floʊt
Pronunciation notes
- US
Verb
To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).
Usage- Intransitive
- of an object or substance
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Helium balloons float in air, while air-filled balloons don't.
To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). To be supported by a liquid of greater density, such that part (of the object or substance) remains above the surface.
Usage- Intransitive
- of an object or substance
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The boat floated on the water.
The oil floated on the vinegar.
To cause something to be suspended in a fluid of greater density.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to float a boat
To be capable of floating.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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That boat doesn't float.
Oil floats on vinegar.
To move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I’d love to just float downstream.
To drift or wander aimlessly.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I’m not sure where they went... they're floating around here somewhere.
Images from my childhood floated through my mind.
To drift gently through the air.
Usage- Intransitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The balloon floated off into the distance.
To cause to drift gently through the air, to waft.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Over the tree-tops I float thee a song, / Over the rising and sinking waves, over the myriad fields and the prairies wide, / Over the dense-pack’d cities all and the teeming wharves and ways, / I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee O death.
To move in a fluid manner.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The dancer floated gracefully around the stage.
To circulate.
Usage- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Examples
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There's a rumour floating around the office that Jan is pregnant.
To remain airborne, without touching down, for an excessive length of time during landing, due to excessive airspeed during the landing flare.
Usage- Intransitive
Of an idea or scheme, to be viable.
Usage- Colloquial
- Intransitive
- Examples
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That's a daft idea... it'll never float.
To propose (an idea) for consideration.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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I floated the idea of free ice cream on Fridays, but no one was interested.
More examples (1)
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, also floated the idea of turning Canada into a U.S. state, said he would demand far higher defense spending from NATO allies and promised to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
To automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.
Usage- Intransitive
To not be tied to a reference. (of currencies) To have an exchange value determined by the markets, as opposed to by central fiat.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The yen floats against the dollar.
To not be tied to a reference. To allow (the exchange value of a currency) to be determined by the markets.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The government floated the pound in January.
Increased pressure on Thailand’s currency, the baht, in 1997 led to a crisis that forced the government to float the currency.
To not be tied to a reference. To be not connected or referenced to a known reference voltage.
Usage- Intransitive
To extend a short-term loan to.
Usage- Colloquial
- Transitive
- Examples
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Could you float me $50 until payday?
To issue or sell shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, followed by listing on a stock exchange.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
"Peg out a claim wherever you like and we will float it," was the substance of many a code of instructions sent by unprincipled men in the mining world of the colonies to the gold prospectors in Port Darwin.
He [Mario Moretti Polegato] floated the company on the Milan Stock Exchange last December and sold 29 per cent of its shares, mostly to American investors.
More examples (1)
2011, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, footnote i, page 269, As a result of this reverse acquisition, Hurlingham changed its name to Manroy plc and floated shares on the Alternative Investment Market in London.
To spread plaster over (a surface), using the tool called a float.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
This wire, nailed over the face of the old plaster will also reinforce any loose lath or plaster after the walls have set. Float the wall to the face of the lath first.
To use a float (rasp-like tool) upon.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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It is time to float this horse's teeth.
To transport by float (vehicular trailer).
Usage- Transitive
To perform a float.
To cause (an element within a document) to float above or beside others.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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To get the footer acting right, you need to float it and clear it on both margins.
To prepare a till (cash register) for operation, either by putting a float (cash amount) in the cash drawer to provide change for customers making cash payments or (by extension) by recording the time a till starts being used for card payments if it is card-only
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
You can't just close the drawer, log in to the till and start serving customers, telling them you're only taking card payments and that they should gonto another till if they're paying in cash. The till needs to be floated first, so ask the manager on the headset if you can use it and she'll float it and let you know when you can start serving.
Noun
A buoyant device used to support something in water or another liquid.
- Examples
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Attach the float and the weight to the fishing line, above the hook.
'What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. 'Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'
A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.
A float board.
A tool similar to a rasp, used in various trades.
A sort of trowel used for finishing concrete surfaces or smoothing plaster.
- Examples
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When pouring a new driveway, you can use a two-by-four as a float.
An elaborately decorated trailer or vehicle, intended for display in a parade or pageant.
- Examples
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That float covered in roses is very pretty.
A floating toy made of foam, used in swimming pools.
A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially in the term milk float.
Usage- UK usage
- Examples
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As soon as the skies brightened and plum-blossom was out, Paul drove off in the milkman's heavy float up to Willey Farm.
Funds committed to be paid but not yet paid.
- Examples
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Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit.
An offering of shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, normally followed by a listing on a stock exchange.
Usage- Australia
- Examples
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You don't actually need a broker to buy shares in a float when a company is about to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The total amount of checks/cheques or other drafts written against a bank account but not yet cleared and charged against the account.
- Examples
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No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished.
Premiums taken in but not yet paid out.
- Examples
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We make a lot of interest from our nightly float.
A floating-point number, especially one that has lower precision than a double.
- Examples
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That routine should not have used an int; it should be a float.
If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats.
A soft beverage with a scoop of ice cream floating in it.
- Examples
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I don't consider anything other than root-beer with vanilla ice cream to be a "real" float.
A small sum of money put in a cashier's till, or otherwise secured, at the start of business, to enable change to be made.
A maneuver where a player calls on the flop or turn with a weak hand, with the intention of bluffing after a subsequent community card.
A weft thread that passes over two or more warp threads (or less commonly, warp over weft).
- Examples
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I knew that a simple float on the surface of the Merino might catch if I made it big enough to show very much.
More examples (1)
The appearance of a waffle fabric changes drastically with washing. Yarns differ, but most relax and twist and curl in the long floats when washed; the severe rectilinear design of the waffle cells in unwashed waffle weave fabric will soften dramatically.
A loose strand of yarn that passes behind one or more stitches when knitting with multiple yarns.
A decorative rod that extends over the body of a basket without being attached for part of its length.
- Examples
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Rod Basket with Serpentine Floats
A car carrier or car transporter truck or truck-and-trailer combination.
A lowboy trailer.
The act of flowing; flux; flow.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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Hee being now in Float for Treasure.
A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.
- Examples
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The machinery consists of two saws, a polishing table, a float for grinding marble, and a ripping saw for cutting slabs.
Float Machinist— One who squares up, faces, noses or chamfers on a float all marble, slate, or similar stones, and including terrazzo or similar compositions.
More examples (2)
Next , finishers rub a float — a small and smooth, rectangular piece of wood — over the entire surface, carefully avoiding edges and joints.
Floated: Obtained by successive passages with a wooden float on the coat's surface until it is flat and uniform
A coal cart.
Usage- UK usage
- Dated
A breakdancing move in which the body is held parallel to the floor while balancing on one or both hands.
A visual style on a web page that causes the styled elements to float above or beside others.
- Examples
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Because margin floats don't collapse together, the actual spacing between two floats sitting next to each other will be 6 pixels […]
More examples (1)
When a float cannot fit next to another float, it moves down below it. A float's position, size, padding, borders, and margins affect the position of adjacent floats and adjacent inline content.
The gas-filled sac, bag, or body of a siphonophore; a pneumatophore.
Any object (element) whose location in composition (page makeup, pagination) does not flow within body text but rather floats outside of it, usually anchored loosely (in buoy metaphor) to spots within it (citations, callouts): a figure (image), table, box, pull quote, ornament, or other floated element.
Noun
the time interval between the deposit of a check in a bank and its payment
- Broader terms
the number of shares outstanding and available for trading by the public
- Broader terms
a drink with ice cream floating in it
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
an elaborate display mounted on a platform carried by a truck (or pulled by a truck) in a procession or parade
- Broader terms
a hand tool with a flat face used for smoothing and finishing the surface of plaster or cement or stucco
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
something that floats on the surface of water
an air-filled sac near the spinal column in many fishes that helps maintain buoyancy
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Verb
be in motion due to some air or water current
- Examples
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The leaves were blowing in the wind
the boat drifted on the lake
More examples (2)
The sailboat was adrift on the open sea
the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore
be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
set afloat
- Broader terms
- Examples
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He floated the logs down the river
The boy floated his toy boat on the pond
circulate or discuss tentatively; test the waters with
- Examples
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The Republicans are floating the idea of a tax reform
move lightly, as if suspended
- Examples
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The dancer floated across the stage
put into the water
- Broader terms
- Examples
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float a ship
make the surface of level or smooth
- Examples
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float the plaster
allow (currencies) to fluctuate
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The government floated the ruble for a few months
convert from a fixed point notation to a floating point notation
- Broader terms
- Examples
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float data