Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that floats or is capable of floating.
  • noun One who wanders; a drifter.
  • noun An employee who is reassigned from job to job or shift to shift within an operation.
  • noun One who votes illegally in different polling places.
  • noun An insurance policy that protects movable property in transit or regularly subject to use in varying places.
  • noun Slang A corpse found floating in a body of water.
  • noun A deposit of material in the vitreous humor of the eye, usually consisting of aggregations of cells or proteins that have detached from the retina, perceived as a spot or thread in the visual field.
  • noun A knuckleball.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which floats or fluctuates; a person or thing in a floating condition, literally or figuratively.
  • noun One who floats game.
  • noun A registering float on a graduated stick, designed to indicate a level attained between periods of observation.
  • noun In political slang, a voter who is not definitely attached to any party; especially, a voter whose vote may be purchased.
  • noun A dead human body found floating in the water.
  • noun A dead human body found floating in the water.
  • noun In Mississippi and Tennessee, a representative in the State legislature who may be elected indifferently from either of two or more counties.
  • noun A vat in which hides are tanned.
  • noun A cask, buoy, or other hermetically sealed vessel containing messages or records and left to drift on the ocean surface in the hope that it will be found by others. See drifter.
  • noun A floating island.
  • noun On the stock-exchange, a certificate, bond or other paper, especially one not officially funded or listed, that is accepted as a recognized security.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who floats or swims.
  • noun A float for indicating the height of a liquid surface.
  • noun United States, United States, United States, United States, United States A voter who shifts from party to party, esp. one whose vote is purchasable.
  • noun United States, United States, United States A person, as a delegate to a convention or a member of a legislature, who represents an irregular constituency, as one formed by a union of the voters of two counties neither of which has a number sufficient to be allowed a (or an extra) representative of its own.
  • noun United States A person who votes illegally in various polling places or election districts, either under false registration made by himself or under the name of some properly registered person who has not already voted.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Agent noun of float; one who or that which floats.
  • noun An employee of a company who does not have fixed tasks to do but fills in wherever needed, usually when someone else is away.
  • noun A threadlike speck in the visual field that seems to move, possibly caused by degeneration of the vitreous humour.
  • noun An "extra" male at a dinner party, or a young friend of the hostess, whose assignment is to entertain the female guests.
  • noun insurance A policy covering property at more than one location or which may be in transit.
  • noun police jargon A floating corpse picked up from a body of water.
  • noun sports An unaffiliated player.
  • noun surfing A maneuver in which a surfer transitions above the unbroken face of the wave onto the lip, or on top of the breaking section of the wave.
  • noun vulgar A piece of faeces that floats.
  • noun two-up A coin which does not spin when thrown in the air.
  • noun slang Someone who attaches themselves to a group of people, much to the dismay of that group, and repeatedly shows up to participate in group activities despite attempts to get rid of, or “flush,” that person.
  • noun Australia A pie floater.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an object that floats or is capable of floating
  • noun spots before the eyes caused by opaque cell fragments in the vitreous humor and lens
  • noun a debt instrument with a variable interest rate tied to some other interest rate (e.g. the rate paid by T-bills)
  • noun a voter who votes illegally at different polling places in the same election
  • noun a swimmer who floats in the water
  • noun an employee who is reassigned from job to job as needed
  • noun a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support
  • noun an insurance policy covering loss of movable property (e.g. jewelry) regardless of its location

Etymologies

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Examples

  • FYI, a floater is a piece of dookie, high in fiber so it floats ….

    DARK KNIGHT POSTERS & BUTTCAM TRAILER (BACK UP) 2008

  • I put that onto the shoe, along with some really beautiful material that we call floater, which is a leather that has been tumbled for a long period of time.

    DRIVEN FROM WITHIN MICHAEL JORDAN 2005

  • I put that onto the shoe, along with some really beautiful material that we call floater, which is a leather that has been tumbled for a long period of time.

    DRIVEN FROM WITHIN MICHAEL JORDAN 2005

  • I put that onto the shoe, along with some really beautiful material that we call floater, which is a leather that has been tumbled for a long period of time.

    DRIVEN FROM WITHIN MICHAEL JORDAN 2005

  • While driving through traffic to the hoop, he wrapped the ball behind his back and threw up a left-handed floater from the baseline that dropped to give Indiana a 102-91 lead.

    USATODAY.com 2007

  • He was beaten by defenseman Chris Phillips 'high floater from the blue line just 52 seconds in on Ottawa's first shot, then was perfect the rest of the way.

    USATODAY.com - Hockey - Ottawa vs. Montreal 2006

  • His biggest shot came with 24.8 seconds left on an inside floater from the right side with two Clippers guarding him.

    USATODAY.com - Basketball - L.A. Clippers vs. Seattle 2006

  • Jefferson hit a floater from the foul line with 1: 55 left to cut Miami's lead to 79-64, and Lamond Murray's open 3-point try 44 seconds later hit the back iron, but wouldn't fall.

    USATODAY.com 2006

  • The Spurs pulled to within one, 80-79, but Kidd hit an off-balance, one-handed floater from the baseline with 1: 16 to play in the game to give New Jersey a three-point lead.

    USATODAY.com - Nets get first Finals win, move even with Spurs 2003

  • Lydman's power-play goal was a floater from the left point through traffic.

    NHL - National Hockey League - Calgary vs. St Louis 2002

Comments

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  • A low-level employee, such as a waiter or bellhop, who occasionally freelances for a spy agency when needed.

    August 26, 2009

  • In surfing a floater is a manoeuver in which the rider surfs over the lip of the wave.

    December 12, 2010