float

• Attach the float and the weight to the fishing line, above the hook.
• 'What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. 'Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 40:

• When pouring a new driveway, you can use a two-by-four as a float.

• That float covered in roses is very pretty.

• As soon as the skies brightened and plum-blossom was out, Paul drove off in the milkman's heavy float up to Willey Farm.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 7, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

• Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit.

And other Commonwealth countries?

• You don't actually need a broker to buy shares in a float when a company is about to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.2006, “Buying shares in a float”, in Australian Securities and Investments Commission financial tips article, archived from the original on 16 Jul 2005:

• No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished.

• We make a lot of interest from our nightly float.

• That routine should not have used an int; it should be a float.
• If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats.2011, Rubin H. Landau, A First Course in Scientific Computing, page 214:

• I don't consider anything other than root-beer with vanilla ice cream to be a "real" float.

• I knew that a simple float on the surface of the Merino might catch if I made it big enough to show very much.1990, Sharon Alderman, A Handweaver's Notebook, →ISBN, page 82:
• The appearance of a waffle fabric changes drastically with washing. Yarns differ, but most relax and twist and curl in the long floats when washed; the severe rectilinear design of the waffle cells in unwashed waffle weave fabric will soften dramatically.1991, Carol Strickler, editor, A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, Interweave Press, →ISBN, pages 140-141:

• Rod Basket with Serpentine Floats1991, Rachel Nash Law, Cynthia Wieboldt Taylor, Appalachian White Oak Basketmaking: Handing Down the Basket, page xii:

• Hee being now in Float for Treasure.1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

• The machinery consists of two saws, a polishing table, a float for grinding marble, and a ripping saw for cutting slabs.1863 April 24, “Trade News”, in The Building News and Engineering Journal, volume 10, page 324:
• Float Machinist— One who squares up, faces, noses or chamfers on a float all marble, slate, or similar stones, and including terrazzo or similar compositions.1925, Australia. Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, Commonwealth Arbitration Reports, page 557:

• Because margin floats don't collapse together, the actual spacing between two floats sitting next to each other will be 6 pixels […]2004, Eric A. Meyer, More Eric Meyer on CSS, page 36:
• When a float cannot fit next to another float, it moves down below it. A float's position, size, padding, borders, and margins affect the position of adjacent floats and adjacent inline content.2007, Michael Bowers, Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns, page 93:

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