float (flot)

[Early mod. E. also flote; related words are numerous: see the noun. Cf. F. flotter = It. fiottare, float, also fluctuate, waver, = Sp. flotar, float; F. flot, m., a wave, billow, surge, a crowd, multitude, the tide, a float, It. fiotto, a wave, billow, flood, tide, fury, frotto and frotta, a crowd, multitude, troop; F. flotte, f., a fleet, a float, a buoy, OF. flote, a fleet, a multitude (> ME. flote, a multitude), = Sp. flota, a fleet, a multitude (> E. flotilla, q. v.), = Pg. frota, a fleet, etc.: words which owe their origin to L. fluctuare, rise in waves, be driven hither and thither, waver, hesitate, , IMG:content-1506.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1507.png:[blocks in formation] 3. To drift about fortuitously; be moved or carried along aimle ly or vaguely; go and come pa ively: as, a rumor has floated hither; confused notions floating in the mind. Every thing floats loose and disjointed on the surface of their mind, like leaves scattered and blown about on the face of the waters. H. Blair, Works, II. ii. 4. In wearing, to pa , as a thread, cro wise under or over several threads without intersecting them. Thus, in twilled or diapered stuff, a thread of the weft will float-that is, pa under or over several threads of the warp. When either of the white or black threads disappear on one side of the cloth, they are not found floating underneath, but are being woven into another cloth. A. Barlow , Weaving, p. 104. II. trans. 1. To cause to float; buoy; cause to be conveyed on the surface of a liquid: as, the tide floated the ship into the harbor; to float timber down a river.-2. To cover with water; flood; irrigate. In some countries the overflow of rivers engenders mushromes, and namely, at Mytilene, where (by report) they will not otherwise grow but upon floten grounds. Hammond, tr. of Pliny, xix. 3. Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands. Dryden, Æneid. A gra abundant in floated or irrigated meadows. Pryor. 3. In oyster- culture, to place on a float for fattening. See float, n., 1 (e).-4. In plastering, to pa over and level the surface of, as plaster, with a float frequently dipped in water. floatage From that city (Nineveh] to Bagdat they carry on the navigation with floats of timber tied together on skins of sheep and goats filled with wind. Pococke , Description of the East, II. 1. 161. (d) A fishing-float. (e) A platform of planks or other ma terial, as a galvanized iron netting or something similar, on which oysters are piled in fresh water to fatten for marketing. (f) A floating platform fastened to a wharf or the shore, from which to embark in or land from boats, as a landing-place at a ferry. (9) A cork or other light substance used on an angling-line to support it and show by its movement when a fish takes the hook. The float and quill to warn you of the bit. John Dennys (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 153). I... was creeping cautiously in the freezing water, watching the tiny float as it danced its merry course along. R. B. Roosevelt , Game Fish, p. 45. (h) The small piece of ivory on the surface of the mercury in the basin of a barometer. (1) The hollow metallic sphere of a self-acting faucet, which floats in the boiler of a steam engine or in a cistern. 2. The act or state of floating: now only in the prepositional phrase or adverb afloat. Now er alle on flote , God gif tham grace to spede. Langtoft , Chron. (ed. Hearne), p. 169. Now is this gally on flote , and out of the safetie of the roade. Hakluyt's Voyages , II. 134. 3t. The act of flowing; flux; flood; flood-tide. But our trust in the Almighty is, that with us contentions are now at their highest float . Hooker , Eccles. Polity, Pref., ix. Of which kind we conceive the main float and refloat of the sea is, which is by consent of the universe, as part of the diurnal motion. Bacon , Nat. Hist., § 907. It were more ease to stop the ocean From floats and ebbs than to di uade my vows. Ford, Tis Pity, 1. 1. For the rest o' the fleet, Which I dispers'd, they all have met again, And are upon the Mediterranean flote , 5. In ceram., to wash over or cover with a thin coat, as of varnish, or with enamel.-6. In white-lead making, to subject to the proce of floating. See floating, n., 4.-7. In farriery, to file, as the teeth of horses, especially old horses. The old horse may be made to live years more, if his front teeth are filed so that the grinders can do their natural work.... Many an old horse will renew its life if its teeth are floated , as the proce is called. New York Weekly Tribune , Dec. 28, 1886. 8. To set afloat; give course or effect to; procure recognition or support for: used of financial operations: as, to float stocks or bonds; to float a scheme by raising funds to carry it on. The floating of loans, which has since risen to the dignity of modern financial science, began to be contemplated Nineteenth Century, XIX. 883. and undertaken. 9. In sporting, to hunt by approaching with a boat or float at night: as, to float deer. - To float up, te older the ends of (tin cans) inside. The can stands on the floating-board, which is heated until the solder runs. float (flot), n. [ a ve el (see flute2 ), = Icel. floti, a float, raft, a fleet, = Sw. flotta = Dan. flaade, a float, raft, a fleet, OHG. floz, MHG. vloz, G. flo , a float, raft (G. flotte, a fleet, G. flott ), a. and adv., afloat, floating. The F. à flot, lit. on the wave, is an accom. of the Teut. phrase. See afloat.] 1. That which floats, rests, or moves on the surface of water or other liquid. And for the space of fifty leagues before we came hither we always found swimming on the sea flotes of weedes of a ship's length, and of the bredth of two ships. Specifically-( at ) A boat. Hakluyt's Voyages , III. 415. There he made a litel cote To him and to hise flote . Havelok , 1. 737. The ve el, gally, or floate yt brought it to Rome so many hundred leagues must needs have ben of wonderful bigne e and strange fabriq. Evelyn , Diary, Nov. 20, 1644. (bt) A fleet. Scipen heo ther heo funden, makede muchel sæ - flot [var. mochel flote ]. Layamon , I. 193. Hamber king and ac his fleote [flote]. Layamon , I. 91. The good ship named the Prime rose shalbe Admirall of this flote . Hakluyt's Voyages , I. 296. (c) A collection of timber, boards, or planks fastened together and floated down a stream; a raft, Bound sadly home for Naples. Shak . , Tempest, i. 2. 5. An inflated bag or pillow used to sustain a person in the water; a cork jacket; a life-preserver.-6. A platform on wheels, bearing a group of objects or persons forming a tableau or scenic effect, and designed to be drawn through the streets in a proce ion. There were sixteen floats or emblems, each being drawn in proce ion through the streets, and lighted by colored fires. Applet on's Ann . Cyc ., 1886, p. 11. 7. A kind of dray having the body hung below the axle, used for transporting heavy goods. -8. A coal-cart.-9. A name of various me chanical tools and appliances. (a) The float-board of a water-wheel, or of the paddle-wheel of a steamer. (b) In prime movers actuated by currents of fluid, that part of the machine on which water or air acts in producing its impulsive effect; a vane. (c) A plasterers' trowel (usually of wood) for spreading plaster. Floats are of several sorts: the hand - float, which is a short trowel which a man by himself may use in spreading the plaster on lathing the angle - float, which is used for making angles in walls; the quirk - float, which is used on moldings in angles; and the long float or derby, which requires two men to use ise it. (d) A single-cut file for smoothing. (e) A block used in polishing marble. (f) A tool used by shoemakers to rasp off the ends of pegs, etc., inside the boot or shoe. (g) An apparatus used in tempering steel by means of a stream of water. (h) The wooden cover of the sponge or tar bucket used with field-gun carriages. Farrow, Mil. Encyc. 10t. pl. The at., the footlights: in allusion to the wicks, which floated in a trough filled with oil.-11. In weaving, especially of fancy fabrics, the pa ing of a thread cro wise under or over several threads without intersecting them. A float is caused by the shuttle pa ing either above or below the thread or threads intended, consequently it is not intersected, as it ought to be, but floats loosely upon the surface of the cloth. A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 414. 12. In zool.: ( a ) In Mollusca, specifically, the vesicular appendage of the Ianthinidæ. See cut under I an thin ide. (b) A local name of a discoid medusa of the genus Velella. Velella has borne the name which designates its most striking peculiarity since the middle of the fifteenth century, on account, perhaps, of a somewhat fanciful likene to a little sail. It is commonly called in Florida, where it is sometimes very abundant, the float . Stand . Nat . Hist . , I. 107. (c) An air-sac or other light hollow or vesicular part or organ which floats or buoys some animals on the water, as the pneumatophore or pneuma to cyst of a hydrozoan. The large inflated part of a physophoran, as the Portuguese man-of-war, is a good example. See pneumatophore, and cuts under Atho rybia and Physalia. 13. Same as floater, 4. floatage, flotage (flotāj), n. [F. flottage, floatage, raftage, I should lighten the brig without imperilling the float age power of the timber in the hold. W. C. Ru ell, Sailor's Sweetheart, xiil. IMG:content-1508.png:[blocks in formation] 2. Anything that floats on the water; flotsam. ly invested; not appropriated to any fixed perHamersly. floatantt, a . See flotant . floatationt, n. See flotation . float-board (flot'bord), n . 1. A-board of the water-wheel of undershot mills which receives the impulse of the stream by which the wheel is driven.-2. One of the paddles of a steamer. float-case (flōt'kās), n. A contrivance for ele- vating bodies by the upward pre ure of water under an air-tight metallic case, moving in a well or shaft. float-copper (flot'koper), n. Copper in the form of fine particles carried away by running water. See float - mineral . floater (floter), n. 1. One who or that which floats or fluctuates; a person or thing in a floating condition, literally or figuratively. Let not the suit of Venus thee displease- Pity the floaters on th' Ionian seas. Eusden , tr. of Ovid's Meta morph., iv. 2. One who floats game.-3. A registering float on a graduated stick, designed to indicate a level attained between periods of observation. -4. In political slang, a voter who is not definitely attached to any party; especially, a voter whose vote may be purchased. [U.S.] -5. A dead human body found floating in the water. [U. S.] IMG:content-1509.png:[blocks in formation] aquatic a. floating (flo'ting), n. 1. The act of support ing one's self, or the state of being supported or borne, on the surface of water or other liquid; flotation. When the sea was calm, all boats alike Show'd mastership in floating . Shak ., Cor., iv. 1. 2. In agri ., the flooding or overflowing of meadow-lands.-3. The spreading of stucco or plaster on the surface of walls, etc.; also, the second coat of three-coat plastering-work. The floating is of fine stuff with a little hair mixed with it. Workshop Receipts , 1st ser., p. 122. 4. A method of obtaining pigments and other materials in a very finely divided state. They are first ground as fine as po ible in a mill, and are then put into long sluiceways of slowly running water. The coarser particles sink first, while the finer are carried a longer distance. The latter are collected and dried, and constitute the floated material. Sometimes, by certain modifications, air is used instead of water. The preparatory working, in order to remove mechanical impurities, is effected by levigation. The washed clay is dried, slightly calcined, and immediately ground to fine powder. The floating is done by hand or power. Workshop Receipts , 2d ser., p. 406. 5. In electrotyping, the proce of filling low spaced forms of type with liquid plaster up to the shoulders of the type, and brushing off the superfluous plaster after it is dry, preparatory to taking a mold.-6. In weaving, a thread of weft which floats, spans, or cro es on the top of several warped threads. See flushing3, 1.7. The method or practice of hunting game by approaching it with a boat at night; fire-hunting; shining; jacking. The hunter, equipped with a lantern or torch, paddles noisele ly toward the game, as a deer in shallow water, until the reflection of the light from the animal's eyes affords an aim. In jacking or floating , the shooter sits in the bow of a canoe just behind a lantern which throws a powerful light ahead, but is shaded from the hunter so as not to interfere with his powers of vision. The deer, raising their heads, stare at the light as it approaches, and when the boat is near enough, the hunter shoots. Sportsman's Gazetteer , p. 83. floating (flo'ting), p . a . 1. Borne on the surface of the water or other liquid, or on the air: as, a floating leaf; floating islands. Th' Atlantic billows roar'd When such a destined wretch as I His floating home forever left. Cowper, The Castaway. The very air about the door Made misty with the floating meal. Tennyson, Miller's Daughter. 2. Not fixed or settled in a definite state or place; fluctuating: as, floating population. He had at this period a floating intention of writing a history. Boswell, Johnson, I. 203. 3. Free; disconnected; unattached: as, the floating ribs in some fishes.-4. In finance: (a) Composed of sums of varying amount due at different but specified dates; unfunded: as, a large floating debt. (b) Not fixed or definite manent investment, as in lands, buildings, machinery, etc., but ready to be used as occasion floccus bunch of curled hairs, as the trochanters of certain bees. flocculation (flok-ū-lā'shon), n. [ capital (opposed to fixed capital). See capital2. - Floating anchor, battery, breakwater, bridge, clough, dam, debt, derrick, dock, dome, elevator, gage, harbor, island, etc. See the nouns. - Floating bricks. See brick2. - Floating kidney, liver, meadow, rib, etc. See the nouns. - Floating screed, in plastering, a strip of plaster arranged and nicely adjusted for guiding the float. See float, n., 9 (c). The floating vote, voters collectively who are not permanently attached to any political organization, and whose votes therefore cannot be counted upon by party managers. [U. S.]