floater

noun

Etymology: From float + -er (suffix forming agent nouns). Compare Old English flota (“boat, ship", also "sailor, pirate”, literally “floater”), whence Middle English flote (“a fleet of ships", also, "a float, flotation device”).

1. A person who floats.

   “Great God of VVaters [i.e., Neptune], vvhoſe extended Svvay / Is next to his, vvhom Heav'n and Earth obey: / Let not the Suit of Venus thee diſpleaſe, / Pity the Floaters on th' Ionian Seas.”

2. A person who floats.

   “A dock worker saw him floating against a dock pier and called the police. Condition of the body they thought a floater that had been hit by a boat and cut by the prop.”

3. A person who floats.
4. A person who floats.
5. A person who floats.

   “'The murdered girl was working for us, for the department.' / 'A floater?' / 'No. Permanent; warranty contract; the lot.'”

6. A person who floats.
7. A person who floats.
8. A person who floats.
9. A person who floats.
10. A person who floats.
11. A person who floats.
12. A thing which floats.
13. A thing which floats.

    “About an hour later a ration lorry found them, and the men were woken again, this time to a good meal of bully stew and floaters – suet dumplings – followed by cold rice pudding with jam.”

14. A thing which floats.

    “He left a floater in the toilet.”

15. A thing which floats.
16. A thing which floats.

    “The floater is a high arcing shot that is commonly used to get the ball over taller defenders in the paint.”

17. A thing which floats.
18. A thing which floats.

    “Replace your leather sandals with rubber slippers, sandals or floaters. They don't soak water well and why in this world would you want to spoil your expensive leather footwear in puddles?”

19. A thing which floats.

    “Suddenly, for no reason, in the middle of the night, or even in the middle of the jolliest party, she would remember an ancient floater—just like that, à propos de bottes—would remember and be overcome by a feeling of self-reproach and retrospective shame. […] One could do one's best; but one could never really persuade oneself that the floater hadn't happened. Imagination might struggle to annihilate the odious memory; but it never had power to win a decisive victory.”

    “He greeted William with cordiality. "Ah, Boot, how are you? Don't think I've had the pleasure before. Know your work well of course. Sit down. Have a cigarette or"—had he made a floater?—"or do you prefer your churchwarden?"”

20. A thing which floats.
21. A thing which floats.
22. A thing which floats.

    “One prisoner came to me and asked if I had anything to read. As I hadn’t, he said he would bring me some reading. The next day he arrived with two serious books under his shirt. ‘Floaters’ [i.e. unofficially circulated books] had also come into the prison: you could either find them in the library, or they would be given to someone else to keep away from the screws—they were never openly visible.”

    “His [Gordon Frank Newman’s] books were ‘floaters’, banned by the borstal, but copies were smuggled in and from wing to wing. We used to rip the covers off them cos if you got caught with one it was seven days block.”

23. A thing which floats.
24. A thing which floats.
25. A thing which floats.

    “[Rule] 477.(1) The boxer for a game of triple penny two-up, or a floor manager, may declare a spin invalid if the spin is a floater. […] [Rule 477.](6) In this section—"floater" means a spin in which at least 1 of the coins does not turn over in the air at least once.”

26. A thing which floats.

    “["]Suppose I should tell you that there's a permanent order in the sheriff's office, left there by the old sheriff, that if I ever use your name or admit I'm your wife I'll get a floater out of the county and out of the state. Does that tempt you?" / "Tempt me to do what?" / "To get me floated and take all the money."”

27. A thing which floats.