Floatable
(Float"a*ble) a. That may be floated.
Floatage
(Float"age) n. Same as Flotage.
Floatation
(Float*a"tion) n. See Flotation.
Floater
(Float"er) n.
1. One who floats or swims.
2. A float for indicating the height of a liquid surface.
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 Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island.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.
Floating
(Float"ing) n.
1. (Weaving) Floating threads. See Floating threads, above.
2. The second coat of three-coat plastering. Knight.
Floatingly
(Float"ing*ly), adv. In a floating manner.
Floaty
(Float"y) a. Swimming on the surface; buoyant; light. Sir W. Raleigh.