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The Meaning of float

  • (v. i.) 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.
  • (v. i.) A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.
  • (v. i.) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler.
  • (v. i.) The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait line, and indicate the bite of a fish.
  • (v. i.) Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink; an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to swim; a life preserver.
  • (v. i.) A float board. See Float board (below).
  • (v. i.) A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die.
  • (v. i.) The act of flowing; flux; flow.
  • (v. i.) A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep.
  • (v. i.) The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.
  • (v. i.) A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.
  • (v. i.) A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.
  • (v. i.) A coal cart.
  • (v. i.) The sea; a wave. See Flote, n.
  • (n.) To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up.
  • (n.) To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to drift along; to move or glide without effort or impulse on the surface of a fluid, or through the air.
  • (v. t.) To cause to float; to cause to rest or move on the surface of a fluid; as, the tide floated the ship into the harbor.
  • (v. t.) To flood; to overflow; to cover with water.
  • (v. t.) To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet.
  • (v. t.) To support and sustain the credit of, as a commercial scheme or a joint-stock company, so as to enable it to go into, or continue in, operation.

Synonyms

plasterer's float , ice-cream soda , ice-cream float , air bladder , swim bladder , swash , rove , vagabond , botch , ramble , bungle , muck up , range , mishandle , bumble , botch up , brag , stray , blow , tout , burn out , screw up , suck , gasconade , roll , fumble , flub , fellate , cast , ball up , err , freewheel , bollocks , wander , shoot a line , mess up , shove off , waste , louse up , bollocks up , gas , bollix , bluster , vaunt , swan , muff , tramp , blow out , swim , foul up , boast , fluff , drift , bobble , go down on , be adrift , shove along , bollix up , fuck up , squander , spoil , roam , bodge , drown

Antonyms

go under , go down , sink , settle

Rhymes

afloat , anecdote , antidote , asymptote , bacote , banknote , banxquote , bloat , boat , capote , chipote , choat , choate , coat , connote , cote , creosote , cutthroat , demote , denote , devote , dote , ferryboat , flatboat , footnote , gloat , goat , groat , grote , gunboat , haute , hinote , houseboat , keynote , kote , lifeboat , misquote , moat , mote , motorboat , note , oat , outvote , overcoat , petticoat , pote , powerboat , promote , quote , raincoat , redcoat , remote , rewrote , roat , rote , rowboat , sailboat , scapegoat , shoat , shote , showboat , sloate , smote , speedboat , sproat , steamboat , stoat , terre-haute , throat , tote , towboat , tugboat , turncoat , uncoat , undercoat , underwrote , unquote , vogt , vote , wrote