1. (v. i.) Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the surface, or mark the place of, something.

2. (n.) A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.

3. (n.) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler.

4. (n.) The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait line, and indicate the bite of a fish.

5. (v. i.) Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink; an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to swim; a life preserver.

6. (n.) A float board. See Float board (below).

7. (n.) A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die.

8. (n.) The act of flowing; flux; flow.

9. (n.) A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep.

10. (n.) The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.

11. (n.) A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.

12. (n.) A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.

13. (n.) A coal cart.

14. (n.) The sea; a wave. See Flote, n.

15. (n.) To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up.

16. (n.) 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.

17. (v. t.) 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.

18. (v. t.) To flood; to overflow; to cover with water.

19. (v. t.) To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet.

20. (v. t.) 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.

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