Float v.

Pa. t. and pa. pple. floated. Forms: 1 flotian, 3 floten, flotten, 4 flotie(n, 4–7 flote, (8 floate), 6– float. Pa. t. 4 flotte. Pa. pple. 7 flote. [OE. flotian = MDu. vlôten, ON. flota:—OTeut. *flotôjan, f. *flot- weak grade of root of *fleutan to float or flow: see FLEET v. The development of sense in ME. was doubtless influenced by the synonymous OF. floter (mod.F. flotter), Sp. flotar, It. fiottare:—med.L. type *flottare, f. OTeut. *flotto- f. the same root as Eng. float.]

  I.  Intransitive senses.

  1.  To rest on the surface of any liquid; to be buoyed up; to be or become buoyant.

a. 1100.  O. E. Chron. an. 1031 (Parker MS.). Beo an scip flotiȝende swa neh þan lande swa hit nyxt mæȝe.

c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues (1888), 33. Hit wile flotten ouer alle wætes.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg. (1493), 131 b/1. Whan the tyme approched of the passyon of our lord thys tree aroos out of the water and floted aboue the water.

1585.  J. B., trans. Viret’s Sch. Beastes, D v b. Halcions … builde their houses … the which may flote … uppon the Sea.

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. vi. 193. Men being drowned and sunke, doe float the ninth day when their gall breaketh.

1782.  Cowper, Royal George, 30.

1878.  Huxley, Physiography, iv. 57. Ice floats readily on water, and floats with only about one-tenth of its volume above the surface.

  fig.  1773.  Gray, Let., in Corr. (1843), 151. It is here, where I have nothing else to do, where all that floated on the surface of my mind is faded away and gone, that the sore at bottom opens afresh.

  b.  Of a stranded vessel: To get off the ground, to get afloat.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. III. 98. Our ship did not float then, nor the next Tide neither, which put them all into an amazement, and a great Consternation too.

  c.  fig. To float in one’s cups: to be half drunk, ‘half seas over.’

1630.  Wadsworth, Sp. Pilgr., vi. 58–9. M. P. floting in his Cups, began a discourse concerning the casualties we are subiect vnto in this world.

  2.  To move quietly and gently on the surface of a liquid, participating in its motion.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 24833 (Cott.). Forth þai floted on þat flod.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., C. 248.

1570–6.  Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent (1826), 325. The corps now eftsoones floted up and downe the River, as it did before.

1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., lxvi. 268. We were so great a number upon a very little raft, where we floated at the mercy of the waves of the Sea, the water came up to our middles.

1790.  Burns, Peg Nicholson.

1836.  W. Irving, Astoria, I. vii. 86. The boat floating near to him he seized hold of it.

  fig.  1752.  Young, Brothers, IV. i.

1790.  Paley, Horæ Paul., i. 3. The circumstances in which the coincidence is remarked are of too particular and domestic a nature to have floated down upon the stream of general tradition.

1832.  Examiner, 802/1. The new Parliament will float with the stream of public opinion.

1869.  Lecky, Europ. Mor., I. iii. 397. Christianity floated into the Roman Empire on the wave of credulity that brought with it this long train of oriental superstitions and legends.

  † b.  transf. of a person: To move up and down; be conversant. Obs.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, 21.

  c.  quasi-trans. = to float upon.

1705.  J. Philips, Blenheim, 236.

1829.  Clare, Autumn, in Anniver., 76.

  3.  To be suspended in a liquid with freedom to move; also, to move freely beneath the surface. † Of a fish: To swim.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., VII. vii. 21.

1696.  Whiston, Th. Earth, III. (1722), 278. The Parts of the present upper Strata were, at the time of the Waters covering the Earth, loose, separate, and divided; and so floated in the Waters among one another uncertainly.

1727.  Swift, Gulliver, II. viii. 165. My Box, by the Weight of my Body, the Goods that were in, and the broad Plates of Iron fixed for Strength at the four Corners of the top and bottom, floated about five feet depth in Water.

1882.  Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 437. The mass of mother-cells (according to Russow there are usually sixteen) floats entirely free in the fluid that fills the sporangium.

  b.  To be drenched or flooded; to ‘run,’ ‘swim.’ rare^–1. (Cf. 10.)

1725.  Pope, Odyss., XIII. 451.

  † 4.  To move unsteadily to and fro like an object on the surface of a liquid; to oscillate, undulate; fig. to vacillate, waver. Obs.

1598.  Bacon, Sacr. Medit., vi. (Arb.), 113. I doe iudge a state of minde, which in all doubtfull expectations is setled and floteth not, and doeth this out of a good gouernment and composition of the affections, to be one of the principall supports of mans life: But that assurance and repose of the mind, which only rides at ancor vpon hope.

1712.  J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 190. Let the Instrument rest till the Water has done floating, and be careful to cover the Mouths of the Vials with Paper, lest the Wind should cause any Agitation of the Water.

1716.  Collier, trans. Nazianzen, 8. When they were in the Executioner’s Hands, their Mother, who stood by, had strong counter Passions, and floated between Joy and Fear.

1763.  Scrafton, Indostan (1770), 71. Floating between his fears and wishes, he shamefully abandoned those whom he was bound, both for his honour and interest, to support.

  b.  nonce-use. To spread in undulating form.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 501.

  c.  Mil. Of a column on the march: To present a wavy line; to be unsteady.

1796.  Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 263. The march in line is uniformly steady, without opening, floating, or closing.

1810.  [see FLOATING vbl. sb. 1 a].

  5.  To move freely and gently in or through the air, as if buoyed up or carried along by it.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 249.

1667.  Dryden, Ind. Emp., I. ii.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., VI. 358.

1781.  Cowper, Retirement, 192.

1808.  Med. Jrnl., XIX. 313. She complained of dark spots floating constantly before the eye.

1888.  Besant, Inner House, xvi. 188. We stopped at a long tent before which floated a great flag on a flagstaff.

  b.  nonce-use. of the air itself, or portions of it.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VII. 432.

  c.  fig. esp. with sense: To move or hover dimly before the eye or in the mind; also of a rumor, etc.: To pass from mouth to mouth.

1775.  Sheridan, Rivals, Pref. Faded ideas float in the fancy like half-forgotten dreams; and the imagination in its fullest enjoyments becomes suspicious of its offspring, and doubts whether it has created or adopted.

1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, III. viii. Here floated the latest anecdote of Bolivar; and there a murmur of some new movement of Cochrane’s.

1857.  Livingstone, Trav., xii. 224. The Bechuanas south of the lake have a prejudice against eating fish, and allege a disgust to eating anything like a serpent. This may arise from the remnants of serpent-worship floating in their minds, as, in addition to this horror of eating such animals, they sometimes render a sort of obeisance to living serpents by clapping their hands to them, and refusing to destroy the reptiles.

1881.  Shorthouse, J. Inglesant, II. 225. He tried to read, but the page floated before his eyes, and it was only by continually rising and pacing the small chamber that he kept himself from sinking into a deep sleep.

  6.  Weaving. Of a thread: To pass over or under several threads either of the warp or weft, instead of being interwoven with them. Of a figure: To have its threads lying in this manner.

1878.  A. Barlow, Weaving, 104. When either of the white or black threads disappear on one side of the cloth, they are not found floating underneath, but are being woven into another cloth.

1883.  T. R. Ashenhurst, Design in Textile Fabrics, vi. 159. Lappet figures cannot be so bound; they must ‘float’ the entire length of the figure, consequently the figure must be of a simple character, and present an appearance of solidity.

  7.  Comm. a. Of an acceptance: To be in circulation, to be awaiting maturity. b. Of a commercial company, etc.: To meet with public support, get ‘floated’ (see 12).

1778.  H. Laurens, in Sparks, Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853), II. 234. We have, in this single article, plunged the Union into a vast amount of debt; and, from neglecting to exert our very small abilities, or even to show a leading disposition to cancel any part of the former demand against us, our bills for that interest are now floating, in imminent danger of dishonor and disgrace.

1884.  Truth, 13 March, 385/2. If the Company floats, the promoter gets his money.

  † 8.  To fish with a float (see FLOAT sb. 8 a).

1630.  [see FLAT v. 10.]

1651.  T. Barker, Art of Angling (1653), 8. I will shew my opinion of floating for Scale Fish in the River or Pond.

  9.  Sporting. To hunt by approaching the game with a boat or float at night. (See FLOAT sb. 7 b.)

1877.  Hallock, Sportsman’s Gazetteer, 83. In jacking or floating the shooter sits in the bow of a canoe just behind a lantern which throws a powerful light ahead, but is shaded from the hunter so as not to interfere with his powers of vision; the deer raising their heads, stare at the light as it approaches, and when the boat is near enough the hunter shoots.

  II.  Transitive senses.

  10.  To cover or flood with a liquid, a. To cover (land) with water, either naturally or artificially, esp. for agricultural or military purposes; to flood, inundate, irrigate. Also with over.

1649.  Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652), 16. The first Piece of Improvement of floating or watering Lands.

c. 1710.  C. Fiennes, Diary (1888), 70. They Can by them [ditches] floate y^e grounds for 3 miles round w^ch is a good ffortification.

1794.  Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, XII. 245. The above land was floated over by salt water, every full and change of the moon.

1816.  Jane Austen, Emma (1866), xxi. 158. He thought I had much better go round by Mr. Cole’s stables, for I should find the near way floated by this rain.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, xiii. 97. Can he float his meadows at the cost of five pounds an acre?

  b.  (chiefly hyperbolical) To overspread with fluid; to drench, inundate. Also, To saturate (a powder magazine) with water.

1729.  Savage, Wanderer, II. 228.

1758.  Parry, in Naval Chron. (1802), VIII. 154. They not knowing we had taken care to float our powder, were under sad apprehensions we might blow up.

1818.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, I. III. iv. 624. The Bhaow was killed early in the action; confusion soon pervaded the army, and a dreadful carnage ensued. The field was floated with blood.

1836.  Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxiv. 180. The fire had been smothered: still the danger had been so great that the fore magazine had been floated.

  c.  transf. and fig.

1586.  J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 84/1. This prosperous calme succeeding the former boisterous storme, the ladie Margaret began to take heart, hir naturall stoutnesse floted, as well by the remembrance of hir noble birth, as by the intelligence of hir honorable match.

1603.  J. Davies, Microcosmos (Grosart), I. 71/1.

1860.  Hawthorne, Marble Faun (1879), I. xii. 115. A French military band flings out rich music over the poor old city, floating her with strains as loud as those of her own echoless triumphs.

1865.  M. Arnold, Ess. Crit., i. (1875), 16. He [Burke] so lived by ideas, and had such a source of them welling up within him, that he could float even an epoch of concentration and English Tory politics with them.

  11.  a. Of water, the tide, etc.: To lift up, or support on its surface (anything buoyant); to bear (anything buoyant) along by the force of the current; occas. with mixture of the two senses. Also with off, out, up.

1606.  Choice, Chance and Change, 5. With a sodaine tempest man & horse ouerthrown vpon a Rock, and the goods all flote or drownd.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. III. 44. The Log-wood-Barks that bring the Wood Aboard of the Ships, are then forc’d to lye still for want of Water to float them over some flats in the Lagunes. Ibid., 98. The Tide then rose so high, as to float her quite up.

1739.  C. Labelye, A Short Account … of Westminster Bridge, 34. Before the Tide had shown or risen so high, as to endanger the Caisson and Stone-work from being floated out of its true Place, the Mason gave over for that Tide, and the Sluice was open’d to let the Water in.

1856.  Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xiv. 149. The enormous masses of the Great Glacier are propelled, step by step and year by year, until, reaching water capable of supporting them, they are floated off to be lost in the temperatures of other regions.

1890.  Spectator, 20 Sept., 362/2. Unlike the Manchester Canal in this respect, which, when completed, will float the biggest ocean steamers.

  fig.  1877.  Owen, Wellesley’s Desp., Introd., 19. Then Lord Wellesley’s supporters waxed faint; and the vehement tide of public opinion in England condemned the rash, ambitious, and war-loving statesman; and floated out the good old nobleman who had first broken Tippoo’s power, to die in the futile attempt to reverse an order of things, which he had himself materially, however involuntarily, contributed to bring about.

  b.  To set afloat; fig. to buoy up, support.

1823.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. II., Poor Relation. She has wherewithal in the end to recompense his indignities, and float him again upon the brilliant surface, under which it had been her seeming business and pleasure all along to sink him.

1885.  Law Rep., 15 Q. Bench Div., 11. He expended more than 5000l. in floating the ship.

  c.  To place (a sheet of paper, etc.) flat on the surface of a liquid. Chiefly Photogr.

1853.  Fam. Herald, 3 Dec., 510/2. You float on the surface of this a sheet of paper prepared as follows.

1882.  Abney, Instr. Photogr. (ed. 5), 199. If the paper is floated much longer than stated above, the albumen, being prepared with an alkaline salt, is apt to dissolve the size and sink into the paper, thus destroying the gloss.

  12.  a. To get (a company, scheme, etc.) afloat or fully started (see AFLOAT 6); to procure public support or acceptance for.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & Snoek, vi. 102. It is rumoured on ’Change to-day that a certain provincial bank has taken up a suspicion of the means by which a present neighbour of yours is floating a scheme which he boasts of as promising great things.

1865.  Pall Mall G., 18 Aug., 9/1. Manufacturing lists of directors for new companies, in order to get them ‘floated.’

1872.  Yeats, Growth Comm., III. x. 311. Besides the ordinary business of discount, the Bank of England keeps an open account with the Treasury, as with any other customer; and serves as a reservoir for floating loans in cases of emergency.

1872.  Greg, Enigmas, 229. The sages … have falsified their creed, in order to float it.

  b.  To set (a rumour) afloat (see AFLOAT 8); to give currency to; to circulate.

1883.  St. James’s Gaz., 21 Dec., 3/1. Floating all manner of embarrassing rumours.

  13.  To guide or convey along the surface of water; to convey by water. Also with off.

1739.  C. Labelye, A Short Account … of Westminster Bridge, 35. The Sides of the Caisson were floated off over the Sides of the Pier.

1776.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., l. (1846), V. 7–8. The treasures of Africa … were floated on rafts to the mouth of the Euphrates.

1853.  Sir H. Douglas, Milit. Bridges (ed. 3), 385. The great tubes constituting the Conway Bridge were floated across the river.

  14.  To convey gently through the air or ether; to cause to move lightly in the air; to waft.

1823.  F. Clissold, Ascent of Mont Blanc, 22. Now mounting my handkerchief upon a pole, a soft breath of wind spread its folds, and floated it gently in the air, as the signal to the Priory of our happy triumph.

1836.  Emerson, Nature, Commodity, Wks. (Bohn), II. 143. The misery of man appears like childish petulance, when we explore the steady and prodigal provision that has been made for his support and delight on this green ball which floats him through the heavens.

1840.  Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile, Poems (1850), I. 83.

  15.  In various technical applications of senses 10, 11. a. Pigment-making. To levigate (pigments) by causing them to float in a stream of water, rejecting the heavier particles that sink to the bottom. b. Electrotyping and Stereotyping. To cover (a forme, a page of type) with fluid plaster of Paris, either to fill up the spaces before electrotyping, or (in the almost obsolete plaster-process) to form a plaster mould. c. To float up (a tin can) (see quot. 1884).

1880.  F. J. F. Wilson, Stereotyping & Electrotyping, v. 128. The page or pages must be floated in plaster-of-Paris. Ibid., 134. When low spaces have been used, and the form has not been floated prior to moulding, the work of the builder is greatly augmented.

1883.  R. Haldane, Workshop Receipts, Ser. II. 405/1. The powder is then levigated (floated), in order to obtain various degrees of fineness.

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., IV. 348/2. ‘Floating up’ tin cans, i. e., soldering the ends inside, the can standing upon the heated plate till the solder runs.

  16.  To render smooth or level. In various technical uses: a. Plastering. To level (the surface of plaster) with a ‘float’; to spread the second coat of plaster on (a ceiling, wall, etc.) Also with down. b. Farriery. To file the teeth of (a horse). c. Agric. (See quots.) d. Wool-spinning. To take off (the carded wool) in an even layer.

a. 1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 249. To float Seelings or Walls with.

1741.  in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 36. The Ceilings in the new Buildings be performed, viz., to be floated and finished in the best and workmanlike manner.

1748.  B. Langley, Lond. Prices, 329. Fronts of old Houses, when the Mortar is much decay’d, are frequently floated down, the old decay’d Mortar raked out, and the Joints fresh pointed anew; so that they look, when done, nearly as well as when first built.

1839.  Pract. Builder, II. 187. When the space between the screeds is sufficiently filled up, it must be floated with a hand-float.

  b.  1886.  N. Y. Weekly Tribune, 28 Dec. (Cent. Dict.). Many an old horse will renew its life if its teeth are floated, as the process is called.

  c.  1785.  W. Marshall, Midland Co. (1790), II. 437. Float … to pare off the surface of sward.

1888.  Sheffield Gloss., Float, to pare stubble from land by means of a paring knife.

  d.  1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 341/1. The teeth move in the same direction as those on the workers and cylinder, so as to clean or ‘float’ off the wool.

  17.  Weaving. To form (a. figure) with ‘floating’ threads (see 6).

1894.  Textile Manuf., 15 April, 151. This method of reeding … necessitates the figure being floated.