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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Float

Flōat, n.

noun

(flōt), n. [See infra, and cf. fleet, flood, in English proper names; A-S. fleót, Icel. fliôt, river, Dan. flod, floed.]

  1. Any thing which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as a mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down the river by the current; a raft.
  2. The cork or quill used on an angling line, to support it, and indicate the bite of a fish.
  3. The water-gage of a steam-boiler attached to the valve in a feed-pipe. Bourne.
  4. The float-board of a wheel. See FLOAT-BOARD.
  5. The act of flowing; flux; flood. [Obs.] Hooker.
  6. A wave. [Obs.] “The Mediterranean float.” Shak.
  7. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep. Mortimer.
  8. A broad, wooden instrument, shaped somewhat like a trowel, with which masons smooth the plastering on walls. Buchanan.
  9. A single-cut file for smoothing.
  10. A cart for coal. [Eng.] Simmonds.

Flōat, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. FLOATED; p. pr. & vb. n. FLOATING.] [A-S. fleotan, flotian, to float, swim; O. Sax. fliotan, Icel. fliota, Fries. fliata, O. H. Ger. fliuzan, N. H. Ger. flieszen.]

Sense 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.

Sense 2. To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to glide without effort or impulse on the surface of a fluid; to move gently and easily through the air.

They stretch their plumes and float upon the wind. Pope.

There seems a floating whisper on the hills. Byron.

Floating debt, capital, &c., debt not funded, or capital not fixed, or of uncertain amount or employment.

Flōat, v. t.

verbtransitive

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 Incheape rock. Southey.

Sense 2. To flood; to inundate; to overflow; to cover with water.

Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands. Dryden.

Sense 3. (Plastering.) To pass over and level the surface of with a float dipped frequently in water.

Floated work, plastering made level by means of a float. Gwill.