flotation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act, process, or condition of floating. Also called flotage.
2. n. The act or an instance of launching or initiating, especially the floating of stocks or bonds or the financing of a business venture by floating stocks or bonds.
3. n. The process of separating different materials, especially minerals, by agitating a pulverized mixture of the materials with water, oil, and chemicals. Differential wetting of the suspended particles causes unwetted particles to be carried by air bubbles to the surface for collection.
4. n. The capability, especially of a vehicle tread or tire, to remain on top of a soft surface, such as sand, wet ground, or snow.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act or state of floating.
2. n. The science of floating bodies.
3. n. The act of launching, or ‘floating,’ a new enterprise, a loan, a new issue of stocks or bonds, or the like.

Wiktionary

1. n. A state of floating, or being afloat.
2. n. mining A process of separating minerals by agitating a mixture with water and detergents etc; selected substances being carried to the surface in air bubbles.
3. n. UK, finance The launching onto the market of a tranch of stocks or shares, usually a new issue.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act, process, or state of floating.
2. n. The science of floating bodies.
3. n. (Com. & Finance) Act of financing, or floating, a commercial venture or an issue of bonds, stock, or the like.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. financing a commercial enterprise by bond or stock shares
2. n. the phenomenon of floating (remaining on the surface of a liquid without sinking)