float

Helium balloons float in air, while air-filled balloons don't.

(intransitive, of an object or substance) To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).

The boat floated on the water.

The oil floated on the vinegar.

To be supported by a liquid of greater density, such that part (of the object or substance) remains above the surface.

to float a boat

(transitive) To cause something to be suspended in a fluid of greater density.

That boat doesn't float.

Oil floats on vinegar.

(intransitive) To be capable of floating.

I’d love to just float downstream.

(intransitive) To move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating.

I’m not sure where they went... they're floating around here somewhere.

Images from my childhood floated through my mind.

(intransitive) To drift or wander aimlessly.

The balloon floated off into the distance.

(intransitive) To drift gently through the air.

Over the tree-tops I float thee a song, / Over the rising and sinking waves, over the myriad fields and the prairies wide, / Over the dense-pack’d cities all and the teeming wharves and ways, / I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee O death.

1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

(transitive) To cause to drift gently through the air, to waft.

The dancer floated gracefully around the stage.

(intransitive) To move in a fluid manner.

There's a rumour floating around the office that Jan is pregnant.

(intransitive, figurative) To circulate.

(intransitive, aviation) To remain airborne, without touching down, for an excessive length of time during landing, due to excessive airspeed during the landing flare.

That's a daft idea... it'll never float.

(intransitive, colloquial) (of an idea or scheme) To be viable.

I floated the idea of free ice-cream on Fridays, but no one was interested.

(transitive) To propose (an idea) for consideration.

(intransitive) To automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.

The yen floats against the dollar.

(intransitive, finance) (of currencies) To have an exchange value determined by the markets, as opposed to by central fiat.

The government floated the pound in January.

Increased pressure on Thailand’s currency, the baht, in 1997 led to a crisis that forced the government to float the currency.

(transitive, finance) To allow (the exchange value of a currency) to be determined by the markets.

Could you float me $50 until payday?

(transitive, colloquial) To extend a short-term loan to.

"Peg out a claim wherever you like and we will float it," was the substance of many a code of instructions sent by unprincipled men in the mining world of the colonies to the gold prospectors in Port Darwin.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 210:

He [Mario Moretti Polegato] floated the company on the Milan Stock Exchange last December and sold 29 per cent of its shares, mostly to American investors.

2007, Jonathan Reuvid, Floating Your Company: The Essential Guide to Going Public:

2011, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, footnote i, page 269,
As a result of this reverse acquisition, Hurlingham changed its name to Manroy plc and floated shares on the Alternative Investment Market in London.

(transitive, finance) To issue or sell shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, followed by listing on a stock exchange.

This wire, nailed over the face of the old plaster will also reinforce any loose lath or plaster after the walls have set. Float the wall to the face of the lath first.

1932, The Bricklayer, Mason and Plasterer, volumes 35-37, page 35:

(transitive) To spread plaster over (a surface), using the tool called a float.

It is time to float this horse's teeth.

(transitive) To use a float (rasp-like tool) upon.

(transitive) To transport by float (vehicular trailer).

To get the footer acting right, you need to float it and clear it on both margins.

2010, Andy Harris, HTML, XHTML and CSS All-In-One For Dummies, page 290:

(computing, publishing, transitive) To cause (an element within a document) to float above or beside others.

en-verb

float (third-person singular simple present floats, present participle floating, simple past and past participle floated)

floats (present singular third-person)
floating (participle present)
floated (participle past)
floated (past)

ভাসানো

to cause something to be suspended in a liquid of greater density

উট

to move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating

leijua

aviation: to remain airborne for an excessive length of time during landing

vloeien

to automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change

kellua

of currencies, to have an exchange value determined by the market

kelluttaa

to allow the price of a currency to be determined by the markets as opposed to by rule

vipata

colloquial: to extend a short-term loan to

viedä pörssiin

to issue or sell shares to members of the public, followed by listing on a stock exchange

From Middle English floten, from Old English flotian (“to float”), from Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-, *plew- (“to float, swim, fly”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian flotje (“to float”), West Frisian flotsje (“to float”), Dutch vlotten (“to float”), Middle Low German vloten, vlotten (“to float, swim”), German flötzen, flößen (“to float”), Swedish flotta (“to float”), Icelandic fljóta, Old English flēotan (“to float, swim”), Ancient Greek πλέω (pléō), Lithuanian plaukti, Russian пла́вать (plávatʹ). Compare flow, fleet.


float

Attach the float and the weight to the fishing line, above the hook.

'What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. 'Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'

1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 40:

A buoyant device used to support something in water or another liquid.

A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.

A tool similar to a rasp, used in various trades.

When pouring a new driveway, you can use a two-by-four as a float.

A sort of trowel used for finishing concrete surfaces or smoothing plaster.

That float covered in roses is very pretty.

An elaborately decorated trailer or vehicle, intended for display in a parade or pageant.

A floating toy made of foam, used in swimming pools.

As soon as the skies brightened and plum-blossom was out, Paul drove off in the milkman's heavy float up to Willey Farm.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 7, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

(British) A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially in the term milk float.

Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit.

(finance) Funds committed to be paid but not yet paid.

You don't actually need a broker to buy shares in a float when a company is about to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

2006, “Buying shares in a float”, in Australian Securities and Investments Commission financial tips article, archived from the original on 2005-07-16:

(finance, Australia, and other Commonwealth countries?) An offering of shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, normally followed by a listing on a stock exchange.

No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished.

(banking) The total amount of checks/cheques or other drafts written against a bank account but not yet cleared and charged against the account.

We make a lot of interest from our nightly float.

(insurance) Premiums taken in but not yet paid out.

That routine should not have used an int; it should be a float.

If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats.

2011, Rubin H. Landau, A First Course in Scientific Computing, page 214:

floating-point number
floating-point number

(programming) A floating-point number, especially one that has lower precision than a double.

I don't consider anything other than root-beer with vanilla ice-cream to be a "real" float.

A soft beverage with a scoop of ice-cream floating in it.

A small sum of money put in a cashier's till, or otherwise secured, at the start of business, to enable change to be made.

(poker) A maneuver where a player calls on the flop or turn with a weak hand, with the intention of bluffing after a subsequent community card.

(knitting) One of the loose ends of yarn on an unfinished work.

(automotive) A car carrier or car transporter truck or truck-and-trailer combination.

Hee being now in Float for Treasure.

1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

(obsolete) The act of flowing; flux; flow.

The machinery consists of two saws, a polishing table, a float for grinding marble, and a ripping saw for cutting slabs.

1863 April 24, “Trade News”, in The Building News and Engineering Journal, volume 10, page 324:

Float Machinist— One who squares up, faces, noses or chamfers on a float all marble, slate, or similar stones, and including terrazzo or similar compositions.

1925, Australia. Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, Commonwealth Arbitration Reports, page 557:

Next , finishers rub a float — a small and smooth, rectangular piece of wood — over the entire surface, carefully avoiding edges and joints.

1980, Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, page 215:

Floated: Obtained by successive passages with a wooden float on the coat's surface until it is flat and uniform

2015, M. Clara Gonçalves, Fernanda Margarido, Materials for Construction and Civil Engineering, page 102:

A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.

A breakdancing move in which the body is held parallel to the floor while balancing on one or both hands.

Because margin floats don't collapse together, the actual spacing between two floats sitting next to each other will be 6 pixels […]

2004, Eric A. Meyer, More Eric Meyer on CSS, page 36:

When a float cannot fit next to another float, it moves down below it. A float's position, size, padding, borders, and margins affect the position of adjacent floats and adjacent inline content.

2007, Michael Bowers, Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns, page 93:

(computing) A visual style on a web page that causes the styled elements to float above or beside others.

(biology) The gas-filled sac, bag, or body of a siphonophore; a pneumatophore.

(publishing, digital typesetting) Any object (element) whose location in composition (page makeup, pagination) does not flow within body text but rather floats outside of it, usually anchored loosely (in buoy metaphor) to spots within it (citations, callouts): a figure (image), table, box, pull quote, ornament, or other floated element.

sierwa

trailer or vehicle decorated for a parade

maksamattomat varat

funds committed to be paid but not yet paid

yleinen osakeanti

finance: offering of shares to the public

maksamattomat varat

banking: total amount of outstanding checks/cheques or other drafts

käteiskassa

insurance: premiums taken in but not yet paid out

pohjakassa

small sum of money put in a cashier's till at the start of business