floats

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of float.

   Oil floats on top of water because it is less dense.

   The dock floats on sealed pontoons that rise and fall with the tide.

   Note

   Here the verb does double duty. Most often nothing acts on the subject, as in "the log floats" or "a leaf floats downstream." It can also take an object, meaning to set something afloat or hold it suspended, as in "she floats the timber down the river." Its looser sense, drifting or wandering aimlessly, applies to people as readily as to driftwood: he floats from job to job.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of float.

   The festival's floats rolled slowly down the main street.

   Anglers attach small floats to keep their bait near the surface.

   Note

   One plural covers a surprising range of unrelated objects: parade vehicles, buoyant devices that hold things up in water, timber rafts sent downstream, and the trowels used to smooth plaster or concrete. Context does the sorting. Floats in a parade roll, floats on a fishing line bob, and a plasterer's floats sit in a toolbox. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, so only the sentence's grammar tells them apart.

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