| 释义 |
▪ I. floating, vbl. n.|ˈfləʊtɪŋ|
[f. float v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. float in various senses.
a. intransitive uses.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 135 Flotyng and fleetyng agree not there meete. 1587Golding De Mornay viii. 98 A floting of a Vessell, at the pleasure of the winde. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 391 While we are at Sea in the Floatings of this world. 1810–17M. Wilks Hist. Sketches S. India (1869) I. xxii. 479 Hyder..observed a floating to take place along the whole mass [of cavalry]. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 56 The falling and floating of bodies. 1894M. Grant in Century Mag. Jan. 354/1 ‘Jacking’ or ‘floating’ for moose is seldom practised.
b. transitive uses.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. 270 Floating, or drowning, or watering of Meadows. 1883R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 406 The washed clay is dried..and immediately ground to fine powder. The floating is done by hand or power. 1888Daily Tel. 18 Oct., The successful floating of the Salt Union.
2. concr. in Plastering. (Cf. float v. 16 a.)
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 391 Floating, in plastering.—The second coat of three-coat work. 1873Spon Workshop Receipts 122 The floating is of fine stuff with a little hair mixed in it.
3. Comb., as floating-trench; also floating-rule (= float n. 16 a); floating-screed (see quot.).
1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. vi. (1653) 27 The one called a Flowing or Floating Trench, wherin I carry my water. 1785W. Marshall Midland Co. (1790) II. 61 By means of floodgates and floating trenches. 1842Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Floating Screeds, strips of plaster previously set out on the work, at convenient intervals, for the range of the floating-rule or float.
▪ II. floating, ppl. a.|ˈfləʊtɪŋ|
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. a. That floats (in various senses of the vb.). floating leaf: see quot. 1790.
1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 415 We supposed that these floting weeds did grow vpon some rocke vnder the water. 1745P. Thomas Voy. S. Seas 256 The River is crouded..with a prodigious Number of Barks..which..make a Kind of floating City. 1781Cowper Anti-Thelyphthora 73 When..floating films envelop every thorn. 1790Martyn Lang. Bot., Floating leaf, Folium natans, lying flat on the surface of the water. 1819P. Wakefield Excurs. N. Amer. (ed. 3) 25 There is one boat which, without exaggeration, may be denominated a floating palace. 1832J. Lindley Introd. Bot. i. 84 Stomata are found..in floating leaves upon the latter [sc. the upper side] only. 1837Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 215 The ice became broken and floating. 1838Southern Lit. Messenger IV. 26/1 The noise of steam, and the dissonant voices of the crowd subside, and give place to the regular thump of the floating hotel [sc. a steamer]. 1843Knickerbocker XXII. 85 The Knickerbocker-Steamer, that floating palace of the Hudson. 1872B. Jerrold London xxi. 187 Soothing a convict's last moments in the floating infirmary off Woolwich Dockyard. 1877Bennett tr. Thomé's Bot. iii. 73 The floating primary root of Trapa. 1878A. Barlow Weaving 104 In some kinds of figured weaving these floating threads are cut off. 1912Chambers's Jrnl. 184/2 A floating factory means an old steamer of three to four thousand tons, a size which has annually been increased... By using the larger size of steamers the owners are able to fit them with plant not only for trying out the blubber..but also with plant for turning the carcasses into oil and guano. 1933Discovery July 213/1 In 1930 floating factory ships, with their consorts the whale-catchers, were to be found encircling three-quarters of the Antarctic continent. 1966Guardian 14 Mar. 18/5 Two floating hotels..to carry tourists upstream from Cairo to Aswan. 1966Economist 22 Oct. 366/1 The Poles started out as specialists in modern trawlers, floating fish factories and base ships—with reinforced hulls for operation in Arctic waters—and they now rank second in this specialised field to Japan. 1967C. D. Sculthorpe Biol. Aquat. Vasc. Plants iv. 72 Floating-leaved hydrophytes are generally unable to withstand severe winds and turbulent waters.
b. Of water: Overflowing, flooding; also, fluctuating, ebbing and flowing.
1578Lyte Dodoens iii. vi. 321 This..groweth..in the brinkes of diches and floting waters. 1712–4Pope Rape Lock ii. 48 The sun-beams trembling on the floating tides.
2. Comm. Of a cargo: At sea. Of trade, rates, etc.: Of or pertaining to cargoes at sea.
1848Arnould Mar. Insur. (1866) I. i. iii. 106 When a floating cargo (i.e. a cargo at sea) is sold in London. 1883Daily News 19 Sept. 6/6 Floating terms, at 44s. 6d. to 48s. 6d. 1887Ibid. 21 Nov. 2/7 A quiet tone has prevailed throughout the floating trade to-day.
3. a. Having little, or comparatively no attachment; disconnected. floating ribs (see quot. 1860).
1806Med. Jrnl. XV. 273 A number of torn floating membranes. 1831R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 31 Twelfth Rib. This rib..has been called the floating rib. 1840F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. 175 Tentacles..spread out loose and floating. 1860Mayne Expos. Lex., Floating Ribs, the last two of the false ribs, whose anterior extremities are not connected to the rest or to each other. 1889J. M. Duncan Lect. Dis. Women xxxiii. (ed. 4) 273 There are achings in cases of what is called floating kidney.
b. (See quot.)
1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. s.v., When the lever of a weigh-bridge or of a testing machine is in equal balance it is said to be floating.
4. Not fixed or settled in a definite state or place; fluctuating, variable, unstable. Esp. in floating population.
1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 388 Because our mindes are more floting & vnstable. 1678Life Edw. Black Pr. in Harl. Misc. (1809) III. 151 Floating-bands..‘The Companions, or Adventurers’. 1690Locke Hum. Und. i. iv. (1695) 26 There is scarce any one so floating and superficial in his Understanding, who hath not some reverenced Propositions, which [etc.]. 1793Burke Cond. Minority Wks. 1842 I. 625 That floating multitude which goes with events. 1835Niles' Register 27 June 289/1 The remark of a distinguished politician..in the convention of 1822, as to the power of what he called the ‘Floating Population’ over the result of elections. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) III. xiv. 120 Many floating rumours. 1876Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 302/1 The floating population of the city is very numerous. 1933‘G. Orwell’ Down & Out i. 7 The lodgers were a floating population..who used to turn up..stay a week and then disappear again. 1962Lancet 26 May 1119/1 More people come to London. There is a greater floating population. 1965B. Sweet-Escott Baker St. Irreg. i. 35 Innumerable other departments were represented—..Electra House,..the B.B.C., and a floating population from the Ministry of Information.
5. Finance.
a. Not fixed or permanently invested; unfunded. (See capital, B 3 c; debt 4 e.)
1816Keatinge Trav. (1817) II. 180 Manual labour..is at present the floating capital of France. 1845McCulloch Taxation iii. ii. (1852) 448 Variations in the amount of floating capital. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 71 A thousand million of pounds sterling are said to compose the floating money of commerce. 1893Daily News 15 Mar. 6/3 It appears that all the floating debt is secured by collateral securities.
b. Of a marine insurance policy: (see quot. 1959).
1839Southern Lit. Messenger V. 7/1 The packets, by their ‘floating policies of insurance’ offer another inducement to shippers. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 527/2 As it frequently happens that merchants desire to have all their shipments covered, by whatever vessel they may come, they require insurance in general terms; such a policy is termed a floating policy. 1959Jowitt Dict. Eng. Law I. 814/2 Floating policy, a marine insurance policy issued to cover all shipments of goods by the assured by any vessel between specified places.
c. Of a currency, or its exchange rate: fluctuating, not fixed. Cf. float v. 1 d.
1964H. G. Grubel World Monetary Reform 442/2 Floating exchange rates. 1970P. Einzig (title) The case against floating exchanges. 1971M. A. G. van Meerhaeghe Economics xii. 419 After 1931 several monetary units became floating currencies. 1971Guardian 17 Aug. 3/6 The cumulative effect of the floating mark (now tantamount to an upward revaluation of more than 8 per cent) and the 10 per cent import surcharge means that German exports there will be 18 per cent dearer.
6. a. In various technical combs., as floating anchor (see quot.); floating axle, a live axle in which the revolving part turns the wheels while the weight of the vehicle is carried on the ends of a fixed axle housing; floating battery, a vessel fitted up and used as a battery; floating clough (see quot.); floating collimator (see quot.); floating crane, a crane mounted on a pontoon; floating derrick (see derrick 2 d); floating dock, a large (usually rectangular) vessel made with water-tight compartments, and used as a graving-dock; floating drydock = floating dock; floating floor (see quot. 1963); floating harbour (see quot.); floating lever (see quot.); floating meadow (see quot.); floating mill U.S., a mill so constructed as to float in a river and be worked by the current; also attrib.; floating pier, a landing-stage which rises and falls with the tide; floating plate, Stereotyping (see quot.); floating point Computers, designating a method of representing numbers by two sequences of digits, one sequence being the significant digits of the number and the other indicating the position of the radix point; usu. attrib.; floating rail= float n. 13; floating reef Austral. (see quot.); floating voter, a voter who has not attached himself to any political party; in U.S. spec. = floater 4 a; also floating vote, the vote of such a person; also collect.
1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 884/1 *Floating Anchor, a frame of spars and sails dragging overboard, to lessen the drift of a ship to leeward in a gale.
1907Westm. Gaz. 26 Nov. 4/3 The famous ‘*floating’ back axle.
1695Lond. Gaz. No. 3073/2 They..have made also two *Floating Batteries with 20 Pieces of Cannon upon them. 1803Naval Chron. IX. 495 She is fitting as a floating-battery. 1866E. A. Pollard Southern Hist. War I. 60 The floating battery dismounted two of the parapet guns [of Fort Sumter].
1841S. C. Brees Gloss. Civ. Engin., *Floating Clough, a moveable dam or machine, used for scouring out channels or inlets.
1833Herschel Astron. ii. 95 The *floating collimator..is..a small telescope..fastened horizontally..on a flat iron float which is made to swim on mercury.
1903Work 27 June 331/2 Another crane in use in Germany is called the *floating crane, and is built on a large, massive flat boat. 1969Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 216 (caption) Port of Copenhagen. Floating crane ‘Herkules’. 180 tons capacity also used for containers.
1866E. Clark in Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. XXV. 296 *Floating docks were originally built of timber.
1838E. Flagg Far West I. 135 Upon the river-bank..stands the ‘*Floating Dry Dock’. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 8 Apr. 19/4 Extensive improvements have been made in the floating drydock, increasing its efficiency. 1970Encycl. Brit. VII. 712/2 The floating dry dock is a barge-like structure that can be partially submerged so that a vessel can enter it. The dock is then raised in the water and pumped dry to permit work on the vessel.
1934Builder CXLVII. 552/1 The patent ‘Cullum’ soundproofing system..has suitable insulating value. The standard thickness of this *floating floor is 33/4 in. 1963Gloss. Build. Terms (B.S.I.) 18 Floating floor, the upper portion of a floor including the flooring, when this is supported on a resilient layer or mountings to provide insulation against sound or vibration. 1970New Yorker 8 Aug. 46/3 What is particularly effective against noise is a so-called floating floor. This consists of a main concrete floor four centimeters thick on top of which lies a one-centimeter-thick layer of glass wool, with another four-centimeter layer of concrete.
1841S. C. Brees Gloss. Civ. Engin., *Floating Harbour, a breakwater, composed of large masses of timber, anchored and chained together..which rise and fall with the tide.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. IV. 348/2 *Floating Lever (Railway) a name applied to the horizontal brake-levers beneath the car-body.
1813T. Davis Agric. Wilts Gloss., *Floating or flowing meadows—Those that are laid up in ridges, with water carriages on each ridge and drains between.
1796A. Ellicott in C. V. Mathews A. Ellicott (1908) 138 These *floating mills are erected upon two, or more, large canoes or boats, and anchored out in a strong current. 1817S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 52 It has a post office, and a floating mill anchored abreast of the town. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. 145 Floating Mill Wheel, a water wheel, having its bearings in a boat moored in the stream of a rapidly flowing river, which turns the wheel and performs work for which it is suitable. 1948E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 250 Some of the first water-power mills were ‘floating mills’. These were built on two large dugout canoes. An undershot wheel was placed between them.
1855Clarke Dict., *Floating-pier.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1177 (s.v. Stereotype Printing) Each mould..is laid, with the impression downwards, upon a flat cast-iron plate, called the *floating-plate.
1948Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation III. 318 *Floating-point operation greatly reduces the need for scale factors, but complicates the operations of addition and subtraction. 1954Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery Oct. 194 The Type 704 is the first large-scale commercially available computer to employ fully automatic floating point arithmetic commands. 1964F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers ix. 143 Sets of subroutines to be performed in ‘floating-point’ rather than the fixed-point mode arithmetic.
1892Melbourne Age 31 Dec. 10/3 Horse and Spring Cart, *floating rail, and Harness.
1869R. B. Smyth Goldf. Victoria 611 *Floating Reef, applied often to masses of bed-rock which are found displaced and lying among the alluvial detritus.
1847Knickerbocker XXIX. 328 Such constitute what in common parlance is called the ‘*floating vote’. 1856Cincinnati Enquirer 7 May 4/1 Fremont, having been a successful explorer and trapper, can discover and trap a great many floating votes. 1935H. Nicolson Let. 13 Nov. (1966) I. 223 There is always the slender chance that the floating vote may swing away from Labour and that I shall creep in. 1971Daily Tel. 19 July 2/2 He has been fighting a vigorous campaign to mop up any floating votes among the 77 delegates at the union's fortnight-long conference.
1905D. G. Phillips Plum Tree 14 Those stiff-armed men were the ‘*floating voters’ of that ward of Pulaski. 1955Observer 1 May 11 The floating voter is not a unique creature. 1958Economist 13 Sept. 828/2 That now well-known and inoffensive favourite of the touchy floating voter, Mr. Aneurin Bevan.
b. In the names of various aquatic plants (see quots.). U.S.
1814J. Bigelow Florula Bostoniensis, Alopecurus geniculatus, floating foxtail grass. 1847Floating glyceria [see manna grass s.v. manna1 9]. 1934Nat. Geogr. Mag. LXV. 598 The dainty white display of floating-heart nods over its own reflection in the water. 1940N. C. Fassett Man. Aquat. Plants 42 Floating Moss. Ibid. 55 Floating Brownleaf. Floating-leaf Pondweed. |