float

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“
When he approached a passing vessel he presented the illusion, not of walking, but of sitting on the water, for the float was almost completely submerged.

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Definitions (90)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (27)

  1. intransitive verb To remain suspended within or on the surface of a fluid without sinking.
  2. intransitive verb To be suspended in or move through space as if supported by a liquid.
  3. intransitive verb To move from place to place, especially at random.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (44)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • AFTER - now that I catch every float or every other float, there is more consistency to my knit fabric. —  Major Knitter
  • In most IMF bailouts, called a 'stand-by arrangement' where peg defence is the key cause of the crisis, a float is a 'prior action' before the first tranche is disbursed following board approval. —  LBO-Lanka Business Online
  • - Using a float is also an advantage because it adds weight for further distancing and the location is easily identified. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • We must build iron houses that float, and go on the sea and meet them PUCK. —  Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida Selected from the Works of Ouida
  • His wrapper was coming off by the time he reached the float--it was too far off to mind watching him--and into the water he'd go, head first, as quick as he could get in. —  We Three
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

int ·  px ·  vector ·  integer

Used in the same contextWord Family

float:   floated ·  floating ·  floats
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English floten, from Old English flotian; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also flote; from Middle English flotien, from Anglo-Saxon flotian (rare), float, from fleótan (past participle *floten) = Middle Low German vloten, vlotten = English fleet, float. Cf. Old Dutch vloten, vlotten, Dutch vlotten, intransitive float, transitive cause to float, transport, = Old High German flozzan, Middle High German vloezen, vloetzen, German flössen, flötzen, transitive, float, infuse, instil, = Icelandic flota, transitive, float, launch. The related words are numerous: see the noun. Cf. French flotter = Italian fiottare, float, also fluctuate, waver, = Spanish flotar, float; French flot, masculine, a wave, billow, surge, a crowd, multitude, the tide, a float, = Italian fiotto, a wave, billow, flood, tide, fury, frotto and frotta, a crowd, multitude, troop; French flotte, feminine, a fleet, a float, a buoy, Old French flote, a fleet, a multitude (later Middle English flote, a multitude), = Spanish flota, a fleet, a multitude (later English flotilla, q. v.), = Portuguese frota, a fleet, etc.: words which owe their origin to L. fluctuare, rise in waves, be driven hither and thither, waver, hesitate, from fluctus, a wave, billow, surge, commotion, etc., but have taken in part the forms and the senses (‘float, a float, a buoy, a fleet,’ etc.) of the Teutonic words, which are not related to the L. fluctus, etc.: see fluctuate.
  2. from Middle English flote, a boat, a fleet, from Anglo-Saxon flota, a boat, ship, also a shipman, sailor, = Dutch vloot, a fleet, vlot, a float, raft, Low German fleute, a vessel (see flute), = Icelandic floti, a float, raft, a fleet, = Swedish flotta = Danish flaade, a float, raft, a fleet, = Old High German floz, Middle High German vloz, German floss, a float, raft (German flotte, a fleet, from French flotte, a fleet, which is of Low German or Scandinavian origin); the related nouns are numerous, and the forms mingle; all from the verb float, ult. from Anglo-Saxon fleótan, English fleet, float, etc.: see float, v., and fleet, v. In def. 2, from Middle English flote, from Anglo-Saxon flot, in preposition phrases, to flote, to the water, on flot (accusative), on flote (dative), on the water, afloat, Middle English on flote = Icelandic ā flot, ā floti, afloat, Swedish flott, Danish flot, Dutch vlot (later G. flott), adjective and adverb, afloat, floating. The F. à flot, literally on the wave, is an accommodation of the Teutonic phrase. See afloat.
 

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/floʊt/
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