Floating
Floating , adjective
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 animals.
3.
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 Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island.
Collocations (17)
Floating anchor (Nautical) , a drag or sea anchor; drag sail.
Floating battery (Military) , 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 (Military) , (a) A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. (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 (Medicine) , 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 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 (Botany) , 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 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 pier , a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide.
Floating ribs (Anatomy) , 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.
Floating , noun
1.
(Weaving) Floating threads. See Floating threads, above.
2.
The second coat of three-coat plastering. — Knight
3.
The process of rendering oysters and scallops plump by placing them in fresh or brackish water; -- called also fattening, plumping, and laying out.