Definitions

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

  • noun Floating objects or material; flotsam.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See floatage.

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

  • noun The state of floating.
  • noun That which floats on the sea or in rivers.

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

  • noun The state of floating.
  • noun That which floats on the sea or in rivers.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French flotage, French flottage, from flotter ("to float").

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Examples

  • And speaking of the sea reminds me of a thing reported to us, and on good authority; though people might be found hereafter who would not believe it, unless I told them that from what I myself beheld of the channel I place perfect faith in it: and this is, that a dozen sailors at the beginning of March crossed the ice, with the aid of poles from Clevedon to Penarth, or where the Holm rocks barred the flotage.

    Lorna Doone Richard Doddridge 2004

  • And speaking of the sea reminds me of a thing reported to us, and on good authority; though people might be found hereafter who would not believe it, unless I told them that from what I myself beheld of the channel I place perfect faith in it: and this is, that a dozen sailors at the beginning of March crossed the ice, with the aid of poles from Clevedon to Penarth, or where the Holm rocks barred the flotage.

    Lorna Doone; a Romance of Exmoor 1862

  • "sinker," as the young engineers called it, had been weighed, and it exactly conformed to the requirement of Ethan's figures; it was just sufficient to overcome the flotage power of the cask.

    Haste and Waste; Or, the Young Pilot of Lake Champlain. a Story for Young People Oliver Optic 1859

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