afloat
adjEtymology From a- + float.
9 senses
- 1Floating.
- 2In, or found while in, a vessel at sea or on another…
- 3Floating in the air; flowing freely; not tied, braided…
- 4Covered with water, bearing floating objects.
- 5Covered, overspread, filled (with or in something).
- 6Having just enough resources to continue to operate…
- 7Believed or talked about by many people; being passed…
- 8Stimulated, aroused, activated.
- 9In a state of confusion, bewilderment, or distraction.
1
Floating.
- A rubber duck and other toys were afloat in the bath.
- On such a full sea are we now afloat; / And we must take the current when it serves, / Or lose our ventures.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
2
In, or found while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water.
- […] that trade […] may likewise employ many useful hands both ashore and afloat,1788, Alexander Jardine, Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, &c., London: T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 23, p. 236:
3
Floating in the air; flowing freely; not tied, braided, etc. (of hair or clothing)
- her black hair loose and a-float down her dazzling white neck1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
- unbound silvery-gold tresses afloat beneath a jeweled coronet1971, Poul Anderson, chapter 4, in The Broken Sword, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1981, page 11:
1 more example
- […] she roars down the street, dreads and feathers and cape afloat,2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 152:
4
Covered with water, bearing floating objects.
- The decks are afloat.
- The yard was afloat. Jody looked out of the window and saw two drowned biddies floating about with upturned bellies.1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 19, in The Yearling, New York: Scribner, page 233:
5
Figuratively Covered, overspread, filled (with or in something).
- The larch-wood was afloat with clear, lyric green,1911, D. H. Lawrence, The White Peacock, London: Heinemann, Part 2, Chapter 2, p. 233:
- The world was afloat in primrose light, pale and exquisite.1935, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Mistress Pat, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, published 1937, page 100:
1 more example
- The lobby was afloat with men, single and married, meeting pretty women in bright dresses and pants suits, single and married.1979, Bernard Malamud, Dubin’s Lives, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, Part 1, p. 51:
6
Of an organization Having just enough resources to continue to operate; barely able to pay expenses; (of a private individual, family, etc.) keeping one's head above water.
- The donation will keep our business afloat for quite a while.
- […] you nede not to be sorye, as thoughe your frendely liberalitie had not be very acceptable vnto me. I haue receaued euery thing, and now I am afloate, by your lyberall sendyng.1549, Miles Coverdale, transl., The Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the New Testament, London: Edward Whitchurche, Volume 2, Philippians 4:
4 more examples
- He […] endeavoured, by forcing himself into a lower path of life than any he had hitherto trod, to keep himself afloat, with the portion of some tradesman’s daughter, whom he meant to espouse.1753, Tobias Smollett, chapter 54, in The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom, Edinburgh: Mundell & Son, published 1800, pages 306–307:
- […] the price poor Jos Osborne had paid for her two horses was in itself sufficient to keep their little establishment afloat for a year, at least;1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 34, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 309:
- They somehow manage to keep "afloat," so as to obtain the needful funds to pay their passages and to purchase, tools and rations.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 191:
- The clan handouts that kept other Somalis afloat were absent here, as the Yibros were so few and so poor.2010, Nadifa Mohamed, Black Mamba Boy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 67:
7
Information Figuratively, Usually, Of ideas Believed or talked about by many people; being passed from person to person.
- The supervisor was never fired, though countless accusations of dishonesty were afloat.
- […] she and I were accepted, whatever ugly rumours had been afloat in the past year, as man and wife.1945, Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited, London: Chapman & Hall, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 243:
8
Figuratively, Obsolete, Of an emotional state Stimulated, aroused, activated.
- You’ll find, when once my passion is afloat, / The soul of Caesar, in a petticoat!1769, Elizabeth Griffith, The School for Rakes, London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, Epilogue, page 92:
- My half frozen blood and my fears again afloat made me tremble through every limb;1794, Thomas Holcroft, chapter 6, in The Adventures of Hugh Trevor, volume 1, London: Shepperson and Reynolds, page 46:
9
Figuratively, Obsolete In a state of confusion, bewilderment, or distraction.
- 1789, Edward Gibbon, letter to Lord Sheffield dated August 1789, in Miscellaneous Works, London: A. Strahan et al., 1796, p. 201, I know not what to say; my mind is all afloat; yet you will not reproach me with caprice or inconstancy.
- […] he could correctly analyze and parse any sentence you could give him, no matter how complex; but when it came to talking he was all afloat.1887, Harry Castlemon, chapter 1, in Our Fellows, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, page 10: