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float

 - 13 dictionary results
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float

  [floht]
–verb (used without object)
1. to rest or remain on the surface of a liquid; be buoyant: The hollow ball floated.
2. to move gently on the surface of a liquid; drift along: The canoe floated downstream.
3. to rest or move in a liquid, the air, etc.: a balloon floating on high.
4. to move lightly and gracefully: She floated down the stairs.
5. to move or hover before the eyes or in the mind: Romantic visions floated before his eyes.
6. to pass from one person to another: A nasty rumor about his firm is floating around town.
7. to be free from attachment or involvement.
8. to move or drift about: to float from place to place.
9. to vacillate (often fol. by between).
10. to be launched, as a company, scheme, etc.
11. (of a currency) to be allowed to fluctuate freely in the foreign-exchange market instead of being exchanged at a fixed rate.
12. (of an interest rate) to change periodically according to money-market conditions.
13. Commerce. to be in circulation, as an acceptance; be awaiting maturity.
–verb (used with object)
14. to cause to float.
15. to cover with water or other liquid; flood; irrigate.
16. to launch (a company, scheme, etc.); set going.
17. to issue on the stock market in order to raise money, as stocks or bonds.
18. to let (a currency or interest rate) fluctuate in the foreign-exchange or money market.
19. to make smooth with a float, as the surface of plaster.
20. Theater. to lay down (a flat), usually by bracing the bottom edge of the frame with the foot and allowing the rest to fall slowly to the floor.
–noun
21. something that floats, as a raft.
22. something for buoying up.
23. an inflated bag to sustain a person in water; life preserver.
24. (in certain types of tanks, cisterns, etc.) a device, as a hollow ball, that through its buoyancy automatically regulates the level, supply, or outlet of a liquid.
25. Nautical. a floating platform attached to a wharf, bank, or the like, and used as a landing.
26. Aeronautics. a hollow, boatlike structure under the wing or fuselage of a seaplane or flying boat, keeping it afloat in water.
27. Angling. a piece of cork or other material for supporting a baited line in the water and indicating by its movements when a fish bites.
28. Zoology. an inflated organ that supports an animal in the water.
29. a vehicle bearing a display, usually an elaborate tableau, in a parade or procession: Each class prepared a float for the football pageant.
30. a glass of fruit juice or soft drink with one or more scoops of ice cream floating in it: a root-beer float.
31. (esp. in the northeastern U.S.) a milk shake with one or more scoops of ice cream floating in it.
32. paddle 1 (def. 6).
33. Banking. uncollected checks and commercial paper in process of transfer from bank to bank.
34. the total amount of any cost-of-living or other variable adjustments added to an employee's pay or a retiree's benefits: a float of $6 per month on top of Social Security benefits.
35. an act or instance of floating, as a currency on the foreign-exchange market.
36. Building Trades.
a. a flat tool for spreading and smoothing plaster or stucco.
b. a tool for polishing marble.
37. a single-cut file of moderate smoothness.
38. a loose-fitting, sometimes very full dress without a waistline.
39. (in weaving and knitting) a length of yarn that extends over several rows or stitches without being interworked.
40. British. a sum of money used by a storekeeper to provide change for the till at the start of a day's business.
41. British. a small vehicle, usually battery powered, used to make deliveries, as of milk.
42. a low-bodied dray for transporting heavy goods.
43. Geology, Mining.
a. loose fragments of rock, ore, etc., that have been moved from one place to another by the action of wind, water, etc.
b. ore that has been washed downhill from an orebody and is found lying on the surface of the ground.
c. any mineral in suspension in water.
44. Usually, floats. British Theater. footlights.
Use float in a Sentence
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME floten, OE flotian; c. ON flota, MD vloten; akin to OE flēotan to fleet 2

Synonyms:
3. hover, waft, drift, suspend.
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pad⋅dle

1  [pad-l] noun, verb, -dled, -dling.
–noun
1. a short, flat bladed oar for propelling and steering a canoe or small boat, usually held by both hands and moved more or less through a vertical arc.
2. any of various similar implements used for mixing, stirring, or beating.
3. any of various similar but smaller implements with a short handle for holding in one hand and a wide or rounded blade, used for a racket in table tennis, paddle tennis, etc.
4. such an implement or a similarly shaped makeshift one, used to spank or beat someone.
5. an implement used for beating garments while washing them in running water, as in a stream.
6. Also called float, floatboard. a blade of a paddle wheel.
7. paddle wheel.
8. any of the blades by which a water wheel is turned.
9. a flipper or limb of a penguin, turtle, whale, etc.
10. an act of paddling.
11. Also, pattle. British Dialect. a small spade with a long handle, used to dig up thistles.
12. (in a gate of a lock or sluice) a panel that slides to permit the passage of water.
–verb (used without object)
13. to propel or travel in a canoe or the like by using a paddle.
14. to row lightly or gently with oars.
15. to move by means of paddle wheels, as a steamer.
–verb (used with object)
16. to propel with a paddle: to paddle a canoe.
17. to spank or beat with or as with a paddle.
18. to stir, mix, or beat with or as with a paddle
19. to convey by paddling, as a canoe.
20. to hit (a table-tennis ball or the like) with a paddle.
—Idiom
21. paddle one's own canoe. canoe (def. 6).
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME padell (n.)

Related forms:
paddler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To float
float   (flōt)   
v.   float·ed, float·ing, floats

v.   intr.

    1. To remain suspended within or on the surface of a fluid without sinking.

    2. To be suspended in or move through space as if supported by a liquid.

  2. To move from place to place, especially at random.

  3. To move easily or lightly: "Miss Golightly . . . floated round in their arms light as a scarf" (Truman Capote).

  4. Economics To find a level in relationship to other currencies solely in response to the law of supply and demand: allowed the dollar to float.

v.   tr.

  1. To cause to remain suspended without sinking or falling.

    1. To put into the water; launch: float a ship; float a navy.

    2. To start or establish (a business enterprise, for example).

  3. To flood (land), as for irrigation.

  4. Economics To allow (the exchange value of a currency) to find freely its real level in relationship to other currencies.

  5. To offer for consideration; suggest: floated my idea to the committee.

  6. To release (a security) for sale.

  7. To arrange for (a loan).

  8. To make the surface of (plaster, for example) level or smooth.

  9. Computer Science To convert (data) from fixed-point notation to floating-point notation.

n.  

  1. Something that floats, as:

    1. A raft.

    2. A buoy.

    3. A life preserver.

    4. A buoyant object, such as a cork, used to hold a net or fishing line afloat.

    5. A landing platform attached to a wharf and floating on the water.

    6. A floating ball attached to a lever to regulate the water level in a tank.

  2. Biology An air-filled sac or structure that aids in the flotation of an aquatic organism. Also called air bladder, air vesicle.

  3. A decorated exhibit or scene mounted on a mobile platform and pulled or driven in a parade.

  4. A sum of money representing checks that are outstanding.

  5. A tool for smoothing the surface of plaster or cement.

  6. A soft drink with ice cream floating in it. See Regional Note at milk shake.


[Middle English floten, from Old English flotian; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.]
float'a·ble adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

paddle  (v.)
"to dabble, wade in water," 1530, probably cognate with Low Ger. paddeln "tramp about," freq. of padjen "to tramp, to run in short steps," from pad (v.). Meaning "to move in water by means of paddles" (1677) is a different word, from paddle (n.).

float 
O.E. flotian "to float" (class II strong verb; past tense fleat, pp. floten), from P.Gmc. *flutojanan (cf. O.N. flota, M.Du. vloten). The noun meaning "platform on wheels used for displays in parades, etc." is from 1888, probably from earlier sense of "flat-bottomed boat" (1557). Floater "dead body found in water" is 1890, U.S. slang.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Financial Dictionary

Float

The total number of shares publicly owned and available for trading. The float is calculated by subtracting restricted shares from outstanding shares. Also known as "free float".

Investopedia Commentary

For example, a company may have 10 million outstanding shares, but only seven million are trading on the stock market. Therefore, this company's float would be seven million.

Stocks with small floats of less than three million shares tend to be a lot more volatile than others.

Related Links

The Basics Of Outstanding Shares And The Float

See also: Authorized Shares, Market Capitalization, Outstanding Shares, Restricted Stock, Volatility

Investopedia.com. Copyright © 1999-2005 - All rights reserved. Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc.
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float

  1. Funds that are on deposit at two institutions at the same time because of inefficiencies in the collection system. This situation permits a person or firm to earn extra income because the two institutions are paying interest on the same funds. As an example, a person writes a check on a money market fund in order to make a deposit in a local financial institution. Until that check gets back to the bank on which it was written (a transit often entailing two or three days), the investor receives interest on his or her funds from both institutions. See also fail float.

  2. The number of shares in public hands and available for trading. Institutional investors require that a security have a large float before they will take a position in it. The large float guards against a substantial price change in the security while the institution is buying. Also called floating supply.



float

To permit a country's currency to change freely in value against foreign currencies.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: float
Function: noun
1 : an amount of money represented by checks outstanding and in process of collection
2 : the time between a transaction (as the writing of a check or a purchase on credit) and the actual withdrawal of funds to cover it

Main Entry: float
Function: intransitive verb
of a currency : to find a level in the international exchange market in response to the law of supply and demand and without any restrictive effect of artificial support or control transitive verb 1 : to place (an issue of securities) on the market
2 : to obtain money for the establishment or development of (an enterprise) by issuing and selling securities
3 : NEGOTIATE 1 <float a loan>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: pad·dle
Pronunciation: 'pad-&l
Function: noun
: a flat disk-shaped electrode with an insulated handle that is usedespecially to apply a shock of electricity to defibrillate a patient experiencing an abnormal heart rhythm called also paddle electrode
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Science Dictionary
float   (flōt)  Pronunciation Key 
An air-filled sac in certain aquatic organisms, such as kelp, that helps maintain buoyancy. Also called air bladder, air vesicle.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Computing Dictionary

float programming
The usual keyword for the floating-point data type, e.g. in the C programming language. The keyword "double" usually also introduces a floating-point type, but with twice the precession of a float.
(2008-06-13)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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