# float

Pronunciation: say "FLOHT" US /floʊt/, UK /fləʊt/

## Verb

1. To rest on the surface of a liquid that is denser than the object, with part of it remaining above the surface.
   - Simple: To stay on top of water or another liquid instead of sinking.
   - _An ice cube floats with most of its bulk hidden below the surface._
   - _Swimmers learn to float on their backs by relaxing their whole body._
5. To travel through the air with a slow, gentle drifting motion.
   - Simple: To move slowly and gently through the air.
   - _Dandelion seeds float on the slightest breeze._
   - _A single feather floated down from the rafters of the barn._
6. To put forward an idea for others to consider.
   - Simple: To suggest an idea so other people can think about it.
   - _Management floated a proposal to reduce weekend shifts._
   - _Before deciding, the committee will float several options to the staff._
7. To have the ability to stay on the surface of a liquid rather than sinking.
   - Simple: To be able to stay on top of water without sinking.
   - _Pumice is unusual among rocks because it floats._
   - _Test whether the materials float before building the raft._
8. To move in a certain direction by being carried along with the liquid one is floating in.
   - Simple: To move along in the same direction as the water carrying you.
   - _They floated down the canal as the current carried them._
   - _Empty bottles float out to sea on the outgoing tide._
9. To drift or wander about without any clear purpose.
   - Simple: To move around without a clear plan or goal.
   - _After graduation she floated between cities, never staying long._
   - _They float through their days with little sense of direction._
11. To be held up by a fluid that is denser than the object itself.
   - Simple: To stay up in a liquid or gas instead of sinking or falling.
   - _A hot-air balloon floats because the warm air inside is lighter than the air around it._
   - _Objects float when the fluid around them is denser than they are._
12. To move smoothly and gracefully, as if gliding without effort.
   - Simple: To move in a smooth, graceful way.
   - _The ballerina floated across the stage on the tips of her toes._
   - _Skilled skaters float over the ice with effortless grace._
13. To cause something to drift gently through the air; to waft it along.
   - Simple: To make something drift gently through the air.
   - _The fan floated the balloons across the room._
   - _Festival-goers float paper lanterns up into the evening sky._
14. To cause something to be held up within a fluid denser than itself.
   - Simple: To make something stay up in a liquid instead of sinking.
   - _Workers floated the heavy pontoon by sealing its air chambers._
   - _Increase the water's salinity to float the dense brine shrimp eggs._
15. Of an idea or scheme, to be workable or viable. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Of a plan or idea, to be good enough to work.
   - _The proposal simply won't float unless costs come down._
   - _Their startup idea floated long enough to attract serious investors._
16. To circulate or pass from person to person, as a rumor or idea does.
   - Simple: To move around and be passed from person to person, like news or ideas.
   - _Rumors about the merger floated around the office for weeks._
   - _Strange ideas float through the crowd before any decision is made._
17. Of a currency: to have an exchange value set by the markets rather than fixed by a central authority.
   - Simple: To have its value set by the market, not by the government, used about a country's money.
   - _The peso began to float after the central bank abandoned its peg._
   - _Several emerging-market currencies now float freely against the dollar._
18. To offer shares in a company or units in a trust for sale to the public, then list them on a stock exchange.
   - Simple: To sell a company's shares to the public for the first time and list it on the stock market.
   - _The founders decided to float the company on the London exchange._
   - _They floated the business at a valuation of two billion dollars._
21. To allow a currency's exchange value to be set by the markets rather than fixing it by decree.
   - Simple: To let a country's money rise and fall in value on the market instead of fixing its price.
   - _The government decided to float the currency in 1971._
   - _Officials floated the peso to ease pressure on the reserves._
25. To prepare a till for operation, either by placing a starting amount of cash in the drawer for change or by recording when a card-only till begins use.
   - Simple: To get a cash register ready for the day, usually by putting starting change in the drawer.
   - _The manager floated the till before the shop opened._
   - _Staff must float each register at the start of the shift._
26. To lend someone a small amount of money for a short period. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To lend someone a small amount of money for a short time.
   - _Can you float me twenty dollars until payday?_
   - _Her brother floated her the rent that month._

## Noun

2. A device that stays on the surface of water or another liquid and holds something up.
   - Simple: A light object that keeps something else up in water.
   - _The angler's float dipped sharply as a fish took the bait._
   - _Floats along the rope marked the edge of the swimming area._
3. A lavishly decorated vehicle or trailer that is driven or towed in a parade or pageant as a display.
   - Simple: A decorated truck or platform shown in a parade.
   - _Each float in the procession carried a different theme._
   - _Volunteers spent weeks decorating the festival floats._
4. A soft drink served with a scoop of ice cream floating in it.
   - Simple: A cold soda with a scoop of ice cream in it.
   - _The diner is famous for its old-fashioned root beer float._
   - _He stirred his float until the ice cream melted into the soda._
10. A foam toy designed to stay afloat, used for play in swimming pools.
   - Simple: A soft foam toy that stays on top of the water in a pool.
   - _Brightly colored floats bobbed across the shallow end._
   - _He clung to a float while learning to kick._
19. A small sum of money placed in a cashier's till at the start of business so that change can be made.
   - Simple: A small amount of cash kept in a till at the start of the day so staff can give change.
   - _The cashier counted the float before opening the store._
   - _We keep a fifty-dollar float in each register._
20. Funds that have been committed to be paid but have not yet been paid out.
   - Simple: Money that has been promised but has not actually been paid out yet.
   - _The company earns interest on the float between billing and payment._
   - _Banks profit from the float created by check-clearing delays._
22. Timber or boards bound together into a single mass so that a river's current can carry them downstream.
   - Simple: A group of logs or boards tied together and carried down a river by the water.
   - _The lumberjacks guided the float down the river to the mill._
   - _A float of logs drifted toward the sawmill at dawn._
23. A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially the milk float that brings milk to homes. *(British)*
   - Simple: A small, slow vehicle used to deliver things nearby, such as milk to people's homes.
   - _The milkman parked his float at the end of the street._
   - _Every morning the electric float hummed along the terraced road._
24. A kind of trowel used to finish concrete surfaces or to smooth plaster.
   - Simple: A flat tool used to smooth wet concrete or plaster.
   - _The mason smoothed the wet cement with a wooden float._
   - _She passed the float over the plaster to level it._
27. The offer of a company's shares, or a trust's units, to the general public, usually as the first step toward listing on a stock exchange. *(Australia)*
   - Simple: The sale of a company's shares to the public for the first time.
   - _The float raised over a billion dollars for the airline._
   - _Investors waited eagerly for the company's float._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In computing, a number stored in floating-point form, especially one with less precision than a double.
- (verb) To be free of any tie to a fixed reference, rather than being set or held in place by one.
- (verb) To make an element within a document sit beside or above the others, with surrounding content wrapping around it.
- (noun) In web design, a layout property that shifts an element to the left or right of its container, letting text and other inline content flow around it.
- (verb) Of an aircraft, to stay just above the runway too long before touching down because it is still moving too fast as it levels off.
- (verb) To change a setting automatically so that it keeps pace with other values it depends on.
- (verb) To coat a surface with plaster, working it on with the flat tool known as a float.
- (verb) To smooth or shape something with a coarse file-like tool.
- (verb) To carry a horse, vehicle or other load on or in a trailer known as a float.
- (verb) In poker, to call a bet with a weak hand, intending to bluff on a later betting round.
- (noun) One of the flat paddles on a waterwheel or paddle wheel.
- (noun) A coarse file-like tool used by workers in several trades for smoothing material.
- (noun) The total value of checks written on an account that the bank has not yet processed and deducted.
- (noun) Money an insurer has collected in premiums but has not yet paid out in claims, which it can invest meanwhile.
- (noun) In poker, a play of calling a bet with a poor hand, planning to bluff on a later card.
- (noun) In weaving, a length of thread that skips across two or more threads running the other way.
- (noun) In knitting with two or more yarns, a loose length of yarn carried across the back of the work behind stitches.
- (noun) In basketry, an ornamental rod laid over the woven body and left loose along part of its length.
- (noun) A big rig, often with a trailer, built to haul several new or used cars at once.
- (noun) A trailer with a very low bed, used for hauling heavy machinery.
- (noun) A flowing or streaming movement.
- (noun) In marble work, a block used to rub and polish the stone.
- (noun) A cart for carrying coal.
- (noun) In breaking, a move where the dancer holds the body level just above the floor, supported on the hands alone.
- (noun) In siphonophores such as the Portuguese man-of-war, the gas-filled bladder that keeps the colony buoyant.
- (noun) In page layout, an item such as a figure, table or pull quote that sits outside the main text flow, loosely tied to a spot in it.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 5–9, 11–18, 21, 25–26** — From Middle English floten, from Old English flotian ('to float'), going back through Proto-Germanic *flutōną to the Proto-Indo-European root *plew-, meaning 'to float, swim, fly'. It is related to flow and fleet.
**Meanings 2–4, 10, 19–20, 22–24, 27** — From Middle English flote, from Old English flota ('sailor, boat'), going back through Proto-Germanic *flutô to the Proto-Indo-European root *plewd-.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/float (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).