float, fleote, flot, flote

[A. S. flota =a ship; Icel. flotia float, a raft; Sw. flotta; Dan. vlot; Ger. flo .] [FLOAT, v.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. The act of floating or swimming. "God tagte ilc fis on water his flotes migt." Genesis and Exodus, 161. 2. The act of flowing; flux; flow. "There is some disposition of bodies to rotation, particularly from East to West; 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 : Natural History. 3. Any thing or body designed or constructed so as to float. *(1) A ship. "There he made a litel cote To him and to his flote ."- Havelok , 737. *(2) Ships collectively; a fleet. "Hamber king and al his flote."-Layamon, i. 91. (3) In angling, the quill or cork from which the bait line is suspended, and whose motion indicates the bite of a fish. "Casting a little of it into the place where your float swims."-Walton: Angler . (4) An inflated bag or pillow to sustain a person in the water. (5) The small piece of ivory on the surface of the mercury in the basin of a barometer. (6) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in the cistern or boiler. [BALL-COCK.] (7) A raft, or collection of timber fastened together for conveyance down a river. *4. A wave; the sea. "They are upon the Mediterranean float ." IMG:content-1768.png:[blocks in formation] 2. Mach .: A single-cut file, or one in which the teeth are parallel and unbroken by a second row of cro ing teeth. The usual horizontal obliquity of the teeth relatively to the central line of files is 55°, but single-cut files are much le inclined, and the teeth of floats are sometimes square acro the face of the file. 3. Plastering : A plasterer's trowel used in spreading or floating the plaster on to a wall or other surface. The long-float is of such a length as to A. & B. As pr. par . & particip . adj .: (See the require two men to use it. The hand-float is that verb.) C. As substantive: IMG:content-1769.png:[blocks in formation] *3. A departure from what is right; a fault; a sin. "Thou tellest my flittings , put my tears into thy bottle." -Psalm lvi. 8. ( Prayer - book .) 4. Furniture which is being removed from one house to another. 5. A term used in husbandry, to denote the decay or failure of seeds, which do not come to maturity. "If they are laid too deep, they cannot get up; if too shallow, though some of them, such as peas, will spring or come up; yet in a short time they decay and go away, which in this country is called flitting , and which seems to be no uncommon thing."- Maxwell : Sel . Trans., p. 94. IMG:content-1770.png:[blocks in formation] in ordinary use. The quirk-float is used in finishing moldings. An angle-float is shaped to fit the angle formed by the walls of a room. 4. Masonry: A polishing-block used in marble working; a runner. 5. Shoe - making : The serrated plate used by shoemakers for rasping off the ends of the pegs inside the boot or shoe. 6. Tempering : A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated steel surface of an object of large bulk, such as an anvil or die in the proce of tempering. The rapid production of steam prevents the constant contact of cold water when the object is merely dipped, as a body of steam intervenes. The dashing stream of water constantly exposes a new body of water to the hot surface, and makes the hardening more complete. 7. Theatrical: A stage-name for the footlights, derived from the use of a row of oil-pans, with floating wicks, along the stage-front, previous to the invention of gas. sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. IMG:content-1771.png:[blocks in formation] Min.: Gold, so finely crushed, that it remains in suspension in the water, and hence is liable to be lost in the ordinary stamp-mill proce . "Compels the float - gold and other finely divided gold to enter into a created vortex of water."-London Daily Telegraph. float-gra , 8. [FLOTE-GRASS.] float-ore, 8. Min.: Water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein-material found on the surface away from the vein outcrop.