The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Floating \Float"ing\, a.
   1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a
      wreck; floating motes in the air.
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   2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating
      ribs in man and some other animals.
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   3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as,
      floating capital; a floating debt.
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            Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been
            withdrawn in great masses from the island.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   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.
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