FLOAT

Definitions

1. 1. Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the surface, or mark the place of, something. Specifically:
2. 2. A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.
3. 3. The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler.
4. 4. The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait line, and indicate the bite of a fish.
5. 5. Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink; an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to swim; a life preserver. This reform bill . . . had been used as a float by the conservative ministry. J. P. Peters.
6. 6. A float board. See Float board (below).
7. 7. A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die. Knight.
8. 8. The act of flowing; flux; flow. [Obs.] Bacon.
9. 9. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep. [Obs.] Mortimer.
10. 10. The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.
11. 11. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. Knight.
12. 12. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.
13. 13. A coal cart. [Eng.] Simmonds.
14. 14. The sea; a wave. See Flote, n. Float board, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of an undershot water wheel or of a steamer's paddle wheel; -- a vane. -- Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship. -- Float copper or gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus liable to be lost. -- Float ore, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop. Raymond. -- Float stone (Arch.), a siliceous stone used to rub stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface. -- Float valve, a valve or cock acted upon by a float. See Float, 1 (b).