Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Floating
Float′ing
,Adj.
1.
Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air.
2.
Free or lose from the usual attachment;
as, the
. floating
ribs in man and some other animals3.
Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined;
as,
floating
capital; a floating
debt.Trade was at an end.
Floating
capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island. Macaulay.
Floating anchor
(Naut.)
, a drag or sea anchor; drag sail.
– Floating battery
(Mil.)
, a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the bombardment of a place.
– Floating bridge
. (a)
A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge.
See Bateau
. (b)
(Mil.)
A kind of double bridge, the upper one projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being moved forward by pulleys; – used for carrying troops over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort.
(c)
A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power.
(d)
The landing platform of a ferry dock.
– Floating cartilage
(Med.)
, a cartilage which moves freely in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the functions of the latter.
– Floating dam
. (a)
An anchored dam.
(b)
A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock.
– Floating derrick
, a derrick on a float for river and harbor use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor improvements, etc.
– Floating dock
. (Naut.)
See under
– Dock
. Floating harbor
, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships riding at anchor to leeward.
Knight.
– Floating heart
(Bot.)
, a small aquatic plant (
– Limnanthemum lacunosum
) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water of American ponds. Floating island
, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs.
– Floating kidney
. (Med.)
See
– Wandering kidney
, under Wandering
. Floating light
, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy or floating stage.
– Floating liver
. (Med.)
See
– Wandering liver
, under Wandering
. Floating pier
, a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide.
– Floating ribs
(Anat.)
, the lower or posterior ribs which are not connected with the others in front; in man they are the last two pairs.
– Floating screed
(Plastering)
, a strip of plastering first laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the coat.
– Floating threads
(Weaving)
, threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric.
Float′ing
,Noun.
1.
(Weaving)
Floating threads. See
Floating threads
, above. 2.
The second coat of three-coat plastering.
Knight.
Webster 1828 Edition
Floating
FLO'ATING
,ppr.
1.
Swimming; conveying on water; overflowing.2.
Lying flat on the surface of the water; as a floating leaf.