Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Floater |
FloaterNoun1. Spots before the eyes caused by opaque cell fragments in the vitreous humor and lens. 2. A debt instrument with a variable interest rate tied to some other interest rate (e.g. the rate paid by T-bills). 3. A wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support. 4. An employee who is reassigned from job to job as needed. 5. A voter who votes illegally at different polling places in the same election. 6. A swimmer who floats in the water. 7. An object that floats or is capable of floating. 8. An insurance policy covering loss of movable property (e.g. jewelry) regardless of its location. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "floater" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1841. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Finance | A CMO tranche with an interest rate that adjusts periodically in relation to an index such as LIBOR. (references) |
Labor | A worker who drifts from job to job, an itinerant who does not like to stay long in any one place of employment. Sometimes referred to as a boomer. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A single fragment of float. See also:float. (references) |
Slang | Noun. Source: Uncertain. Definition: Name for a trick/stunt particular to surfing, whereby one is surfing perpendicular to the wave on a section that has already broken (i.e. the white wash). Context: Used to describe a person's action. Social Source: Surfers. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Floaters or muscae volantes are entoptic phenomena, of shadow-like shapes which appear singly or together with several others in one's field of vision. They can take the form of spots, threads, or fragments of cobwebs, that float before one's eye in the direction of the eye's movement but much more slowly.Often exasperatedly, when floaters drift in front of what they wish to focus on, many sufferers find it difficult to come to terms with them.
Floaters as such are quite harmless - provided they are not accompanied by bright flashes, usually in the corner of the eye - as ophthalmologists think of these shapes as shadows projected on to the retina by tiny structures of protein discarded over the years and trapped in the vitreous humour in association with the ageing of the eye. It is not, however, only elderly people who suffer from floaters, it can certainly become a problem to younger people too at times, especially if they are shortsighted. In some cases, floaters are congenital.
Normally, there is no treatment indicated. Vitrectomy operations to remove them, are normally advised against as they are risky and may cause more severe problems or even blindness. One should bear in mind also that floaters become less annoying as the sufferer gets used to them, and may even disappear over time.
If flashes do occur, however, or sudden "clouds" of minute spots move across the field of vision (as a whole), they must be investigated immediately as they may be symptoms of retinal tears or even a detached retina.
External links
In insurance, a floater is a policy covering property at more than one location or which may be in transit.
A floater in sports is an unaffiliated player; a floater may refer to an 'extra' man at a dinner party, or a young friend of the hostess, whose assignment is to make sure that all the girls are talking and dancing.
A floater is also a police term for a floating corpse picked up from a body of water.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Floater."
Synonyms: FloaterSynonyms: drifter (n), floating policy (n), musca volitans (n), muscae volitantes (n), spots (n), vagrant (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cunning | Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, fox, reynard; Scotchman; Jew, Yankee; intriguer, intrigant; floater, Indian giver, keener, repeater. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Floater |
| Specialty definitions using "floater": inverse floater ♦ retractable float. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | 14-inch projectiles on deck, while the battleship was replenishing her ammunition supply prior to the invasion of Guam, July 1944. The photograph looks forward on the starboard side, with triple 14"/50 gun turrets at left. Note floater nets stowed atop the turrets. Credit: NAVY. |  | Crewmen at port side midships 5"/25, 20mm and 40mm anti-aircraft guns strain to identify a plane flying overhead, during the Mindoro invasion, 18 December 1944. This was a time of intense Kamikaze attacks, as the expressions on men's faces indicate. Note whaleboat in the lower left, anti-flash clothing, and floater net enclosed in a bag at right. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Plan view aft, taken from a pierside crane at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 July 1943. Circles mark recent alterations to the ship, in this case newly-installed life rafts and floater nets. Note OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplanes atop the ship's catapults. Credit: NAVY. |  | At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 29 July 1942. Circles mark recent alterations to the ship. Note torpedo tubes, catwalk, and 20mm guns (in a cruciform arrangement) on her superstructure deck; winch and floater nets on the main deck. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Sure! He's great big -- He's got de ava de poiz -- He can't sink : Gee! He's a regular floater. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Tractor-drawn floater on Gray County farm, Kansas. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Tractor pulling wooden floater to smooth the soil. El Indio, real estate development, Texas. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Floater" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Floater" is used about 16 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 16 | 87,710 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "floater": floater bean. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "floater": log-floater. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
floater | 69 | floater bowl | 3 |
eye floater | 17 | floater candle | 3 |
floater talk | 7 | chlorine floater | 3 |
floater lyrics | 5 | doctor floater in laser new surgery vitreous york | 3 |
floater web | 4 | floater music | 3 |
doctor floater florida in laser surgery vitreous | 4 | floater staffing | 3 |
floater inverse | 4 | floater golf ball | 3 |
band floater | 3 | eye floater in | 2 |
boat floater | 3 | floater frame | 2 |
eye floater treatment | 3 | floater shoes | 2 |
vitreous floater | 2 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "floater"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | sigurim (ascertainment, cover, coverage, indemnity, insurance, procuration, procurement, reassurance, reversion, safeguard, safety, security), notues (ball cock, buoyant, floatable, floaty, natatorial, natatory, supernatant, water borne), njeri i pakararshëm. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | скитник (bum, casual, derelict, drifter, erratic, hobo, itinerant, knockabout, land-loper, land-louper, nomad, on the wallaby, roadster, roamer, rover, runabout, straggler, swagman, tramp, vagabond, vagrant, wanderer), швимер, гаф (boob, bungle, faux pas, gaff, gaffe, infelicity, slip, snafu), временен работник (casual), основател на предприятие, облигация (bond, stock), подкупен избирател, плаващ на повърхността човек, плаващ на повърхността предмет. (various references) | |
Chinese | 流动工. (various references) | |
Czech | vor (float, raft). (various references) | |
Danish | flydevaegt (areometer, densimeter, float, float lever, hydrometer, salinometer, twaddle gauge), flyder (float, float lever, supernatant), flydbar traeart, flaadbar traeart, tank med flydende overdækning (floating support), svoemmer (float, float lever), obligation med flydende rente (floating rate bond, floating rate note), loes valse (floating roll, floating roller), krans (boat, corona, crown, gathering ring, pot ring, ring, wreath), bjaelke (balk, baulk, bearer, float, float lever, longeron, spar). (various references) | |
Dutch | flotteur, vlotter (float, float lever), vlotbaar, tank met drijvend dak (floating support), scheepje (boat, gathering ring, pot ring, ring, sledge), ring (ring), oppervlakte vlotter (float, float lever), oppervlakte drijver (float, float lever), obligatie met zwevende rentevoet (floating rate bond, floating rate note), krans (academy, circle, club, crown, garland, society, wreath), drijver (float, float body, float lever, pontoon, raft), drijvende stam, drijvende brug, dobber (float, float lever), beweegbare rol (floating roll, floating roller). (various references) | |
Finnish | uimuri (float), rinki (boat, bush, bushing, finish, gathering ring, orifice ring, pot ring, ring), liikkuvat valssit (floating roll, floating roller), liikkuvat telat (floating roll, floating roller), kelluvakattoinen varastosäiliö (floating support), kelluva katto (floating support), kellukepalkki, kelluke (drop, float, pontoon). (various references) | |
French | FRN (floating rate bond, floating rate note), floater, flottable (floatable), flotteur (float), flotteur temoin (float, float lever), fondateur (floaters), rond de cueillage, barrage flottant (floating barrier), bon taux flottant (floating rate bond, floating rate note), caisson assurant la flottabilité, cercle de cueillage, support flottant (floating support), rouleau mobile (floating roll, floating roller), obligation taux flottant (floating rate bond, floating rate note), anneau de cueillage, réservoir de stockage toit flottant (floating support), travailleur migrant, inventoriste itinérant, nacelle, note taux flottant (floating rate bond, floating rate note), suppléant. (various references) | |
German | Gründer (floaters, founder, founders, originator). (various references) | |
Greek | κουλούρα δοχείων (boat, gathering ring, pot ring, ring), πλωτός (floating), πλωτήρας επιφανειακής ροής (float, float lever), πλωτήρας (buoy, float, float body, floating support, pontoon, raft), πλωτήρ,επιπλευστήρ, φλοτέρ (float), επιπλέων (afloat, floe, natant, to boot), ελεύθερος κύλινδρος (dancer roll, floating roll, floating roller, free roller, loose roller), άστατοσ (capricious, fickle, flighty, inconstant, mercurial, tergiversator, uncertain, unsettled, unstable, volatile, whiffler), ομολογίες μεταβλητού επιτοκίου (floating rate bond, floating rate note). (various references) | |
Hungarian | úszó fatörzs. (various references) | |
Italian | galleggiante (barge, buoyant, float, floating). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | フレコン化 (changing something to full remote control, flex, flextime, float, floater serve, floating, flooring, flora, flow, flow inflation, flowchart, French, French cancan, French dressing, French kiss, French sleeve, French toast, fresh, fresher, freshman, fret, fretless, friend, friendly, friends, friendship, frozen food, frozen yoghurt, newly hired career-track company employee, wooden floor). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | フローターサーブ (floater serve). (various references) | |
Korean | 부동 투표자. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | oaterflay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | flutuador (dasher, float). (various references) | |
Romanian | flotor (float, quill, swimmer), pod plutitor (ferry boat, float), persoanã care pluteşte, alegãtor al cãrui vot poate fi cumpãrat, întemeietor al unei companii comerciale. (various references) | |
Russian | сезонный рабочий. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | privremeni zaposlenik, osiguranje stvari koje se transportuju, onaj koji plovi, nezakonit glasač. (various references) | |
Spanish | flotador (float, pontoon, swimmer). (various references) | |
Swedish | flottbar, flottör (float), tank med flytande tak (floating support), säsongarbetare, ring (circle, coil, collar, collet, halo, ring, tyre, wheel, wreath), lös vals (floating roll, floating roller). (various references) | |
Turkish | yüzen şey (float), sağlam hisse senedi, sürekli iş değiş tiren kimse, kurucu (builder, constituent, constitutive, creator, erector, father, founder, foundress, framer, incorporator, promoter), hata (balk, baulk, blemish, delinquency, demerit, error, failing, false step, falsity, fault, faux pas, flaw, fluff, gaffe, goof, imperfection, inaccuracy, lapse, mistake, slip, slip up, stumble, trip, wrong, wrongness), enayilik (foolishness, gullibility), devlet tahvili (funds, state bonds), aptallık (crime, fatuity, Folly, foolery, fooling, foolishness, footle, hebetude, idiocy, ineptitude, silliness, stupidity). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | пором (ferry, ferryboat, raft), пліт (raddle, raft, wattle), плотар (raftsman). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | công nhân phụ động. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "floater": floaters. (additional references) | |
| |
"Floater" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: flater, Flateyri, flator, Flesaker, floate, floatern, floatery, Floaties, Floo'er, florate, Flotex, Flotter, Flottweg, folastre, folate, loater. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "floater" (pronounced flō"ter) |
| 3 | -ō" t er | locomotor, motor, promoter, rotor, voter. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: refloat. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-f-l-o-r-t" | |
-1 letter: falter, florae, floret, foetal, folate, loafer, lofter. | |
-2 letters: afore, after, alert, aloft, alter, artel, farle, feral, fetal, fetor, flare, float, flora, flota, forte, later, oater, ofter, orate, ratel, taler, tolar. | |
-3 letters: aero, alef, aloe, alto, earl, fare, farl, faro, fate, feal, fear, feat, felt, feta, flat, flea, floe, foal, fora, fore, fort, frae. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-f-l-o-r-t" | |
+1 letter: deflator, fellator, fleawort, floaters, floatier, forestal, refloats. | |
+2 letters: afterglow, deflators, fellators, fleaworts, floriated, forestall, forestial, formulate, fortalice, lakefront, reflation, refloated, waterfowl. | |
+3 letters: afterglows, afterworld, clofibrate, defalcator, defoliator, factorable, floodwater, fluoridate, fluorinate, footballer, forecastle, forestalls, forestland, formulated, formulates, fortalices, lakefronts, malefactor, perfoliate, prefrontal, profitable, profligate, quatrefoil, reflations, refloating, softballer, starflower, trifoliate, waterflood, waterfowls, wolframite. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
