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floating
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English Dictionary: floating by the DICT Development Group
5 results for floating
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
floating
adj
  1. borne up by or suspended in a liquid; "the ship is still floating"; "floating logs"; "floating seaweed"
  2. continually changing especially as from one abode or occupation to another; "a drifting double-dealer"; "the floating population"; "vagrant hippies of the sixties"
    Synonym(s): aimless, drifting, floating, vagabond, vagrant
  3. inclined to move or be moved about; "a floating crap game"
  4. (of a part of the body) not firmly connected; movable or out of normal position; "floating ribs are not connected with the sternum"; "a floating kidney"
  5. not definitely committed to a party or policy; "floating voters"
n
  1. the act of someone who floats on the water [syn: floating, natation]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Floating \Float"ing\, n.
      The process of rendering oysters and scallops plump by
      placing them in fresh or brackish water; -- called also
      {fattening}, {plumping}, and {laying out}.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Float \Float\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Floated}; p. pr. & vb. n.
      {Floating}.] [OE. flotien, flotten, AS. flotian to float,
      swim, fr. fle[a2]tan. See {Float}, n.]
      1. To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed
            up.
  
                     The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground.
                                                                              --Milton.
  
                     Three blustering nights, borne by the southern
                     blast, I floated.                              --Dryden.
  
      2. To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to
            drift along; to move or glide without effort or impulse on
            the surface of a fluid, or through the air.
  
                     They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the
                     wind.                                                --Pope.
  
                     There seems a floating whisper on the hills.
                                                                              --Byron.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Floating \Float"ing\, a.
      1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a
            wreck; floating motes in the air.
  
      2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating
            ribs in man and some other animals.
  
      3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as,
            floating capital; a floating debt.
  
                     Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been
                     withdrawn in great masses from the island.
                                                                              --Macaulay.
  
      {Floating anchor} (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail.
           
  
      {Floating battery} (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the
            hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the
            bombardment of a place.
  
      {Floating bridge}.
            (a) A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor
                  of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau
                  bridge. See {Bateau}.
            (b) (Mil.) A kind of double bridge, the upper one
                  projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being
                  moved forward by pulleys; -- used for carrying troops
                  over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort.
            (c) A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by
                  means of chains which are anchored on each side of a
                  stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels
                  being driven by stream power.
            (d) The landing platform of a ferry dock.
  
      {Floating cartilage} (Med.), a cartilage which moves freely
            in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the
            functions of the latter.
  
      {Floating dam}.
            (a) An anchored dam.
            (b) A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock.
  
      {Floating derrick}, a derrick on a float for river and harbor
            use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor
            improvements, etc.
  
      {Floating dock}. (Naut.) See under {Dock}.
  
      {Floating harbor}, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored
            and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships
            riding at anchor to leeward. --Knight.
  
      {Floating heart} (Bot.), a small aquatic plant ({Limnanthemum
            lacunosum}) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water
            of American ponds.
  
      {Floating island}, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard
            with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs.
  
      {Floating kidney}. (Med.) See {Wandering kidney}, under
            {Wandering}.
  
      {Floating light}, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel
            moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners
            of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy
            or floating stage.
  
      {Floating liver}. (Med.) See {Wandering liver}, under
            {Wandering}.
  
      {Floating pier}, a landing stage or pier which rises and
            falls with the tide.
  
      {Floating ribs} (Anat.), the lower or posterior ribs which
            are not connected with the others in front; in man they
            are the last two pairs.
  
      {Floating screed} (Plastering), a strip of plastering first
            laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the
            coat.
  
      {Floating threads} (Weaving), threads which span several
            other threads without being interwoven with them, in a
            woven fabric.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Floating \Float"ing\, n.
      1. (Weaving) Floating threads. See {Floating threads}, above.
  
      2. The second coat of three-coat plastering. --Knight.
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
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