Part 217

Floss (?; 195), n. [It. floscio flabby, soft, fr. L. fluxus flowing, loose, slack. See Flux, n.] 1. (Bot.) The slender styles of the pistillate flowers of maize; also called silk.

2. Untwisted filaments of silk, used in embroidering.

Floss silk, silk that has been twisted, and which retains its loose and downy character. It is much used in embroidery. Called also floxed silk. -- Floss thread, a kind of soft flaxen yarn or thread, used for embroidery; -- called also linen floss, and floss yarn. McElrath.

Floss, n. [Cf. G. floss a float.] 1. A small stream of water. [Eng.]

2. Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of oxides and earths which are present.

Floss hole. (a) A hole at the back of a puddling furnace, at which the slags pass out. (b) The tap hole of a melting furnace. Knight.

Flos`si*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [Cf. Florification.] A flowering; florification. [R.] Craig.

Floss"y (?; 115), a. Pertaining to, made of, or resembling, floss; hence, light; downy.

||Flo"ta (?), n. [Sp. See Flotilla.] A fleet; especially, a &?;eet of ||Spanish ships which formerly sailed every year from Cadiz to Vera ||Cruz, in Mexico, to transport to Spain the production of Spanish ||America.

Flo"tage (?), n. [OF. flotage, F. flottage, fr. flotter to float.] 1. The state of floating.

2. That which floats on the sea or in rivers. [Written also floatage.]

Flo"tant (?), a. [OF. flotant, F. flottant, p. pr. of flotter to float.] (Her.) Represented as flying or streaming in the air; as, a banner flotant.

Flo*ta"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. flottation a floating, flottaison water line, fr. flotter to float. See Flotilla.] 1. The act, process, or state of floating.

2. The science of floating bodies.

Center of flotation. (Shipbuilding) (a) The center of any given plane of flotation. (b) More commonly, the middle of the length of the load water line. Rankine. -- Plane, or Line, of flotation, the plane or line in which the horizontal surface of a fluid cuts a body floating in it. See Bearing, n., 9 (c). -- Surface of flotation (Shipbuilding), the imaginary surface which all the planes of flotation touch when a vessel rolls or pitches; the envelope of all such planes.

Flote (?), v. t. To fleet; to skim. [Obs.] Tusser.

Flote, n. [Cf. F. flot, L. fluctus; also cf. Float, n.] A wave. [Obs.] "The Mediterranean flote." Shak.

Flot"er*y (?), a. Wavy; flowing. [Obs.]

With flotery beard.

Chaucer.

Flo*til"la (?), n. [Sp. flotilla, dim. of flota fleet; akin to F. flotte, It. flotta, and F. flot wave, fr. L. fluctus, but prob. influenced by words akin to E. float. See Fluctuate, and cf. Float, n.] A little fleet, or a fleet of small vessels.

{ Flot"sam (?), Flot"son (?) }, n. [F. flotter to float. See FFlotilla, and cf. Jetsam.] (Law) Goods lost by shipwreck, and floating on the sea; -- in distinction from jetsam or jetson. Blackstone.

Flot"ten (?), p. p. of Flote, v. t. Skimmed. [Obs.]

Flounce (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flounced (flounst); p. pr. & vb. n. Flouncing (?).] [Cf. OSw. flunsa to immerge.] To throw the limbs and body one way and the other; to spring, turn, or twist with sudden effort or violence; to struggle, as a horse in mire; to flounder; to throw one's self with a jerk or spasm, often as in displeasure.

To flutter and flounce will do nothing but batter and bruise us.

Barrow.

With his broad fins and forky tail he laves The rising sirge, and flounces in the waves.

Addison.