FLOATINGLY

Etymology

Adverb

floatingly (comparative more floatingly, superlative most floatingly)

In a floating manner.

Source: Wiktionary

Float"ing*ly, adv.

Definition: In a floating manner.

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 Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island.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.

Float"ing, n.

1. (Weaving)

Definition: Floating threads. See Floating threads, above.

2. The second coat of three-coat plastering. Knight.

FLOAT

Float, n.Etym: [OE. flote ship, boat, fleet, AS. flota ship, fr. fleótan to float; akin to D. vloot fleet, G. floss raft, Icel. floti float, raft, fleet, Sw. flotta. sq. root 84. See Fleet, v. i., and cf. Flotilla, Flotsam, Plover.]

1. Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the surface, or mark the place of, something. Specifically: (a) A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft. (b) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler. (c) The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait line, and indicate the bite of a fish. (d) Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink; an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to swim; a life preserver. This reform bill . . . had been used as a float by the conservative ministry. J. P. Peters.

2. A float board. See Float board (below).

3. (Tempering)

Definition: A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die. Knight.

4. The act of flowing; flux; flow. [Obs.] Bacon.

5. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep. [Obs.] Mortimer.

6. (Plastering)

Definition: The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.

7. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. Knight.

8. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.

9. A coal cart. [Eng.] Simmonds.

10. The sea; a wave. See Flote, n. Float board, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of an undershot water wheel or of a steamer's paddle wheel; -- a vane.

– Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship.

– Float copper or gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus liable to be lost.

– Float ore, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop. Raymond.

– Float stone (Arch.), a siliceous stone used to rub stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface.

– Float valve, a valve or cock acted upon by a float. See Float, 1 (b).

Float, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Floated; p. pr. & vb. n. Floating.] Etym: [OE. flotien, flotten, AS. flotian to float, swim, fr. fleótan. 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.

Float, v. t.

1. To cause to float; to cause to rest or move on the surface of a fluid; as, the tide floated the ship into the harbor. Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock. Southey.

2. To flood; to overflow; to cover with water. Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands. Dryden.

3. (Plastering)

Definition: To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet.

4. To support and sustain the credit of, as a commercial scheme or a joint-stock company, so as to enable

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

FLOATINGLY

Etymology

Adverb

FLOATING

FLOAT

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