floatel noun see flotel

floatˈer noun

1. A person or thing that floats
2. A vagrant, or a person who drifts from job to job or allegiance to allegiance
3. A person who performs different tasks as required (esp N American)
4. A blunder (slang)
5. A floating policy (US)
6. A meat pie floating in pea soup (Aust)
7. A dark speck that appears to float before one's eyes, caused by dead cells and fragments of cells in the lens and vitreous humour

floatˈing adjective

1. That floats, in any sense
2. Not fixed
3. Fluctuating
4. Circulating
5. Not clearly committed to one side or the other (politics)

1. The action of the verb
2. The spreading of plaster on the surface of walls
3. Flotation therapy (see under flote)

floatˈingly adverb

float'y adjective

(of a garment or fabric) light and delicate

floatˈ-board noun

A board of an undershot water wheel or a paddle wheel

float chamber noun

A chamber in a carburettor in which a float controls the level of fuel

float glass noun

Glass hardened while floating on the surface of molten tin

float grass or floating grass noun

Floating meadow-grass (Glyceria fluitans)

floating battery noun

A vessel or hulk which is heavily armed, used in the defence of harbours or in attacks on marine fortresses

floating bridge noun

A bridge supported on pontoons

floating capital noun (economics)

1. Goods, money, etc
2. Capital not permanently invested

floating charge noun (law and economics)

A fluctuating borrowing facility secured on the total assets of a company

floating crane noun

A large crane carried on a pontoon, used in docks

floating currency noun (economics)

A national (unit of) currency whose value is allowed to fluctuate freely in the international trading market

floating debt noun (economics)

(an) unfunded debt or short-term government loan

floating dock noun

A floating structure that can be sunk by admitting water to its air chambers, and raised again carrying a vessel to be repaired

floating island noun

1. A floating mass of driftwood, or of vegetation buoyed up from the bottom by marsh gas, or anything similar
2. A dessert consisting of meringues floating in custard

floating kidney noun

An abnormally mobile kidney

floating light noun

A lightship

floating-point notation noun (computing)

The expressing of numbers as a fractional value (the mantissa) followed by an integer exponent of the base, eg ±0.34791×10³

floating-point number noun (computing)

A number so expressed

floating-point operation noun (computing)

The addition, subtraction, multiplication or division of two floating-point numbers

floating policy noun

An insurance policy covering movable property irrespective of its location

floating rib see under rib¹

floating vote noun

The votes of electors who are not permanently attached to any one political party

floating voter noun

float plane noun

A seaplane

floatˈ-stone noun

1. A porous spongelike variety of silica, so light as to float for a while on water
2. A bricklayer's smoothing tool

float tank see flotation therapy under flote

flotel or floatel /flō-telˈ/

A platform or boat containing the sleeping accommodation and eating, leisure, etc facilities for workers on oil rigs