Float·ing, a.
 1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air.
 2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating ribs in man and some other animals.
 3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as, floating capital; a floating debt.
    Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island.   --Macaulay.
 Floating anchor Naut., a drag or sea anchor; drag sail.
 Floating battery Mil., a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the bombardment of a place.
 Floating bridge. (a) A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. See Bateau. (b) Mil. A kind of double bridge, the upper one projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being moved forward by pulleys; -- used for carrying troops over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort. (c) A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power. (d) The landing platform of a ferry dock.
 Floating cartilage Med., a cartilage which moves freely in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the functions of the latter.
 Floating dam. (a) An anchored dam. (b) A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock.
 Floating derrick, a derrick on a float for river and harbor use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor improvements, etc.
 Floating dock. Naut. See under Dock.
 Floating harbor, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships riding at anchor to leeward. --Knight.
 Floating heart Bot., a small aquatic plant (Limnanthemum lacunosum) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water of American ponds.
 Floating island, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs.
 Floating kidney. Med. See Wandering kidney, under Wandering.
 Floating light, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy or floating stage.
 Floating liver. Med. See Wandering liver, under Wandering.
 Floating pier, a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide.
 Floating ribs Anat., the lower or posterior ribs which are not connected with the others in front; in man they are the last two pairs.
 Floating screed Plastering, a strip of plastering first laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the coat.
 Floating threads Weaving, threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric.