ETYM Old Eng. flote ship, boat, fleet, AS. flota ship, from fleótan to float; akin to Dutch vloot fleet, German floss raft, Icel. floti float, raft, fleet, Swed. flotta. Related to Fleet, Flotilla, Flotsam, Plover.
1. Something that remains on the surface of a liquid.
2. The number of shares outstanding and available for trading by the public.
3. The time interval between the deposit of a check in a bank and its payment.

1. To be afloat; stay on a liquid surface; not sink; SYN. swim.
2. To set afloat.
3. To be in motion due to some air current; SYN. drift, be adrift, blow.
4. To allow (currencies) to fluctuate.

The data type name used in some programming languages, notably C, to declare variables that can store floating-point numbers. See also data type, floating-point number, variable.