float
- n the time interval between the deposit of a check in a bank and its payment
- n the number of shares outstanding and available for trading by the public
- n a drink with ice cream floating in it
- n an elaborate display mounted on a platform carried by a truck (or pulled by a truck) in a procession or parade
- n a hand tool with a flat face used for smoothing and finishing the surface of plaster or cement or stucco
- n something that floats on the surface of water
- n an air-filled sac near the spinal column in many fishes that helps maintain buoyancy
- v be in motion due to some air or water current
- v be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom
- v set afloat
He floated the logs down the river
The boy floated his toy boat on the pond - v circulate or discuss tentatively; test the waters with
The Republicans are floating the idea of a tax reform - v move lightly, as if suspended
The dancer floated across the stage - v put into the water
float a ship - v make the surface of level or smooth
float the plaster - v allow (currencies) to fluctuate
The government floated the ruble for a few months - v convert from a fixed point notation to a floating point notation
float data
floral cup
- n the cuplike or ringlike or tubular structure of a flower which bears the sepals and stamens and calyx (as in Rosaceae)
floatation
- n the phenomenon of floating (remaining on the surface of a liquid without sinking)
- n financing a commercial enterprise by bond or stock shares
floater
- n spots before the eyes caused by opaque cell fragments in the vitreous humor and lens
floaters seem to drift through the field of vision - n a debt instrument with a variable interest rate tied to some other interest rate (e.g. the rate paid by T-bills)
- n a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support
- n an employee who is reassigned from job to job as needed
- n a voter who votes illegally at different polling places in the same election
- n a swimmer who floats in the water
- n an object that floats or is capable of floating
- n an insurance policy covering loss of movable property (e.g. jewelry) regardless of its location
floating-point notation
- n a radix numeration system in which the location of the decimal point is indicated by an exponent of the radix; in the floating-point representation system, 0.0012 is represented as 0.12-2 where -2 is the exponent
floating-point number
- n a number represented in floating-point notation
floating-point operation
- n an arithmetic operation performed on floating-point numbers