Part 210

7. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. Knight.

8. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.

9. A coal cart. [Eng.] Simmonds.

10. The sea; a wave. See Flote, n.

Float board, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of an undershot water wheel or of a steamer's paddle wheel; -- a vane. -- Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship. -- Float copper or gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus liable to be lost. -- Float ore, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop. Raymond. -- Float stone (Arch.), a siliceous stone used to rub stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface. -- Float valve, a valve or cock acted upon by a float. See Float, 1 (b).

Float, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Floated; p. pr. & vb. n. Floating.] [OE. flotien, flotten, AS. flotian to float, swim, fr. fleÛtan. See Float, n.] 1. To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up.

The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground.

Milton.

Three blustering nights, borne by the southern blast, I floated.

Dryden.

2. 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.

They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the wind.

Pope.

There seems a floating whisper on the hills.

Byron.

Float, v. t. 1. 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.

Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock.

Southey.

2. To flood; to overflow; to cover with water.

Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands.

Dryden.

3. (Plastering) To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet.

4. 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.

Float"a*ble (?), a. That may be floated.

Float"age (?; 48), n. Same as Flotage.

Float*a"tion (?), n. See Flotation.

Float"er (?), n. 1. One who floats or swims.

2. A float for indicating the height of a liquid surface.