Difference Wiki

Float vs. Flow

Float and Flow Definitions

Float

To remain suspended within or on the surface of a fluid without sinking.

Flow

To move or run smoothly with unbroken continuity, as in the manner characteristic of a fluid.

Float

To be suspended in or move through space as if supported by a liquid.

Flow

To issue in a stream; pour forth
Sap flowed from the gash in the tree.

Float

To move from place to place, especially at random.

Flow

To circulate, as the blood in the body.
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Float

To move easily or lightly
"Miss Golightly ... floated round in their arms light as a scarf" (Truman Capote).

Flow

To move with a continual shifting of component particles
Wheat flowing into the bin.
Traffic flowing through the tunnel.

Float

(Economics) To rise or fall freely in response to the market
Allowed the dollar to float.
A loan whose interest rate floats with the prime rate.

Flow

To proceed steadily and easily
The preparations flowed smoothly.

Float

To cause to remain suspended without sinking or falling.

Flow

To exhibit a smooth or graceful continuity
The poem's cadence flowed gracefully.
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Float

To put into the water; launch
Float a ship.
Float a navy.

Flow

To hang loosely and gracefully
The cape flowed from his shoulders.

Float

To start or establish (a business enterprise, for example).

Flow

To rise. Used of the tide.

Float

To flood (land), as for irrigation.

Flow

To arise; derive
Many conclusions flow from this hypothesis.
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Float

(Economics) To allow (the exchange value of a currency, for example) to rise or fall freely in response to the market
Inflation forced the government to float the currency.

Flow

To be abundant; teem
Coffers flowing with treasure.
Wine flowing at the celebration.

Float

To offer for consideration; suggest
Floated my idea to the committee.

Flow

To move from one place to another in large numbers
Contributions flowed in from all parts of the country.

Float

To release (a security) for sale.

Flow

To menstruate.

Float

To arrange for (a loan).

Flow

To undergo plastic deformation without cracking or breaking. Used of rocks, metals, or minerals.

Float

To make the surface of (plaster, for example) level or smooth.

Flow

To release as a flow
Trees flowing thin sap.

Float

(Computers) To convert (data) from fixed-point notation to floating-point notation.

Flow

To cause to flow
"One of the real keys to success is developing a system where you can flow traffic to yourselves" (Marc Klee).

Float

A raft.

Flow

The act of flowing.

Float

A buoy.

Flow

The smooth motion characteristic of fluids.

Float

A life preserver.

Flow

A stream or current.

Float

A buoyant object, such as a piece of cork or a plastic ball, used to hold a net or part of a fishing line afloat.

Flow

A flood or overflow.

Float

A landing platform attached to a wharf and floating on the water.

Flow

A residual mass that has stopped flowing
A hardened lava flow.

Float

A floating ball attached to a lever to regulate the water level in a tank.

Flow

A continuous output or outpouring
A flow of ideas.
Produced a steady flow of stories.

Float

(Biology) An air-filled sac or structure that aids in the flotation of an aquatic organism. Also called air bladder, air vesicle.

Flow

A continuous movement or circulation
The flow of traffic.
A flow of paperwork across his desk.

Float

A decorated exhibit or scene mounted on a mobile platform and pulled or driven in a parade.

Flow

The amount that flows in a given period of time.

Float

The number of shares of a security that are publicly owned and traded.

Flow

The rising of the tide.

Float

A sum of money representing checks that are outstanding.

Flow

Continuity and smoothness of appearance.

Float

The time between the issuing or depositing of a check and the debiting of the issuer's account.

Flow

A general movement or tendency
A dissenter who went against the flow of opinion.

Float

The time during which a credit card purchase can be repaid without interest.

Flow

The sequence in which operations are performed.

Float

A tool for smoothing the surface of wet plaster or concrete.

Flow

An apparent ease or effortlessness of performance
"An athlete must learn to forget the details of his or her training to achieve the instinctive sense of flow that characterizes a champion" (Frederick Turner).

Float

A file with sharp ridges used for cutting or smoothing wood.

Flow

Menstrual discharge.

Float

A soft drink with ice cream floating in it.

Flow

Movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.

Float

Excess time allowed for a task in a project schedule.

Flow

The movement of a real or figurative fluid.

Float

To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).
Helium balloons float in air, while air-filled balloons don't.

Flow

(math) A formalization of the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid, as a group action of the real numbers on a set.
The notion of flow is basic to the study of ordinary differential equations.

Float

To be supported by a liquid of greater density, such that part (of the object or substance) remains above the surface.
The boat floated on the water.
The oil floated on the vinegar.

Flow

The rising movement of the tide.

Float

(transitive) To cause something to be suspended in a liquid of greater density.
To float a boat

Flow

Smoothness or continuity.
The room was small, but it had good symmetry and flow.

Float

(intransitive) To be capable of floating.
That boat doesn't float.
Oil floats on vinegar.

Flow

The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.
Turn on the valve and make sure you have sufficient flow.
Other devices measure water flow in streams fed by melted ice.

Float

(intransitive) To move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating.
I’d love to just float downstream.

Flow

A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare with return pipe which returns fluid to central plant).

Float

(intransitive) To drift or wander aimlessly.
I’m not sure where they went... they're floating around here somewhere.
Images from my childhood floated through my mind.

Flow

(psychology) A mental state characterized by concentration, focus and enjoyment of a given task.

Float

(intransitive) To drift gently through the air.
The balloon floated off into the distance.

Flow

The emission of blood during menstruation.
Tampons can be small or large, slender or thick. From “slender” to “super”, you can pick the size that matches your flow.

Float

(intransitive) To move in a fluid manner.
The dancer floated gracefully around the stage.

Flow

The ability to skilfully rap along to a beat.
The production on his new mixtape is mediocre but his flow is on point.

Float

To circulate.
There's a rumour floating around the office that Jan is pregnant.

Flow

(software) The sequence of steps taken in a piece of software to perform some action.
Login flow
Search flow

Float

(aviation) To remain airborne, without touching down, for an excessive length of time during landing, due to excessive airspeed during the landing flare.

Flow

(Scotland) A morass or marsh.

Float

(of an idea or scheme) To be viable.
That's a daft idea... it'll never float.

Flow

(intransitive) To move as a fluid from one position to another.
Rivers flow from springs and lakes.
Tears flow from the eyes.

Float

(transitive) To propose (an idea) for consideration.
I floated the idea of free ice-cream on Fridays, but no one was interested.

Flow

(intransitive) To proceed; to issue forth.
Wealth flows from industry and economy.

Float

(intransitive) To automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.

Flow

(intransitive) To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.
The writing is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow.

Float

(of currencies) To have an exchange value determined by the markets, as opposed to by central fiat.
The yen floats against the dollar.

Flow

(intransitive) To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.

Float

To allow (the exchange value of a currency) to be determined by the markets.
The government floated the pound in January.
Increased pressure on Thailand’s currency, the baht, in 1997 led to a crisis that forced the government to float the currency.

Flow

(intransitive) To hang loosely and wave.
A flowing mantle; flowing locks

Float

To extend a short-term loan to.
Could you float me $50 until payday?

Flow

(intransitive) To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.
The tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.

Float

To issue or sell shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, followed by listing on a stock exchange.

Flow

To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.

Float

(transitive) To spread plaster over (a surface), using the tool called a float.

Flow

(transitive) To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.

Float

(transitive) To use a float (rasp-like tool) upon.
It is time to float this horse's teeth.

Flow

(transitive) To cover with varnish.

Float

(transitive) To transport by float (vehicular trailer).

Flow

(intransitive) To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.

Float

(poker) To perform a float.

Flow

To move with a continual change of place among the particles or parts, as a fluid; to change place or circulate, as a liquid; as, rivers flow from springs and lakes; tears flow from the eyes.

Float

To cause (an element within a document) to float above or beside others.

Flow

To become liquid; to melt.
The mountains flowed down at thy presence.

Float

A buoyant device used to support something in water or another liquid.
Attach the float and the weight to the fishing line, above the hook.

Flow

To proceed; to issue forth; as, wealth flows from industry and economy.
Those thousand decencies that daily flowFrom all her words and actions.

Float

A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.

Flow

To glide along smoothly, without harshness or asperties; as, a flowing period; flowing numbers; to sound smoothly to the ear; to be uttered easily.
Virgil is sweet and flowingin his hexameters.

Float

A float board.

Flow

To have or be in abundance; to abound; to full, so as to run or flow over; to be copious.
In that day . . . the hills shall flow with milk.
The exhilaration of a night that needed not the influence of the flowing bowl.

Float

A tool similar to a rasp, used in various trades.

Flow

To hang loose and waving; as, a flowing mantle; flowing locks.
The imperial purple flowing in his train.

Float

A sort of trowel used for finishing concrete surfaces or smoothing plaster.
When pouring a new driveway, you can use a two-by-four as a float.

Flow

To rise, as the tide; - opposed to ebb; as, the tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb between.

Float

An elaborately decorated trailer or vehicle, intended for display in a parade or pageant.
That float covered in roses is very pretty.

Flow

To discharge blood in excess from the uterus.

Float

A floating toy made of foam, used in swimming pools.

Flow

To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.

Float

(British) A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially in the term milk float.

Flow

To cover with varnish.

Float

(finance) Funds committed to be paid but not yet paid.
Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit.

Flow

A stream of water or other fluid; a current; as, a flow of water; a flow of blood.

Float

An offering of shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, normally followed by a listing on a stock exchange.

Flow

A continuous movement of something abundant; as, a flow of words.

Float

(banking) The total amount of checks/cheques or other drafts written against a bank account but not yet cleared and charged against the account.
No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished.

Flow

Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought, diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady movement of a river; a stream.
The feast of reason and the flow of soul.

Float

(insurance) Premiums taken in but not yet paid out.
We make a lot of interest from our nightly float.

Flow

The tidal setting in of the water from the ocean to the shore. See Ebb and flow, under Ebb.

Float

(programming) A floating-point number, especially one that has lower precision than a double.
That routine should not have used an int; it should be a float.

Flow

A low-lying piece of watery land; - called also flow moss and flow bog.

Float

A soft beverage with a scoop of ice-cream floating in it.
I don't consider anything other than root-beer with vanilla ice-cream to be a "real" float.

Flow

The motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases)

Float

A small sum of money put in a cashier's till, or otherwise secured, at the start of business, to enable change to be made.

Flow

The amount of fluid that flows in a given time

Float

(poker) A maneuver where a player calls on the flop or turn with a weak hand, with the intention of bluffing after a subsequent community card.

Flow

The act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression

Float

(knitting) One of the loose ends of yarn on an unfinished work.

Flow

Any uninterrupted stream or discharge

Float

(automotive) A car carrier or car transporter truck or truck-and-trailer combination.

Flow

Something that resembles a flowing stream in moving continuously;
A stream of people emptied from the terminal
The museum had planned carefully for the flow of visitors

Float

(transport) A lowboy trailer.

Flow

Dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas;
Two streams of development run through American history
Stream of consciousness
The flow of thought
The current of history

Float

(obsolete) The act of flowing; flux; flow.

Flow

The monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause;
The women were sickly and subject to excessive menstruation
A woman does not take the gout unless her menses be stopped
The semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same time of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females

Float

A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.

Flow

Move or progress freely as if in a stream;
The crowd flowed out of the stadium

Float

A coal cart.

Flow

Move along, of liquids;
Water flowed into the cave
The Missouri feeds into the Mississippi

Float

A breakdancing move in which the body is held parallel to the floor while balancing on one or both hands.

Flow

Cause to flow;
The artist flowed the washes on the paper

Float

(computing) A visual style on a web page that causes the styled elements to float above or beside others.

Flow

Be abundantly present;
The champagne flowed at the wedding

Float

(biology) The gas-filled sac, bag, or body of a siphonophore; a pneumatophore.

Flow

Fall or flow in a certain way;
This dress hangs well
Her long black hair flowed down her back

Float

Any object (element) whose location in composition (page makeup, pagination) does not flow within body text but rather floats outside of it, usually anchored loosely (in buoy metaphor) to spots within it (citations, callouts): a figure (image), table, box, pull quote, ornament, or other float element.

Flow

Cover or swamp with water

Float

Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the liquid surface, or mark the place of, something.
This reform bill . . . had been used as a float by the conservative ministry.

Flow

Undergo menstruation;
She started menstruating at the age of 11

Float

A float board. See Float board (below).

Float

A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die.

Float

The act of flowing; flux; flow.

Float

A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep.

Float

The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.

Float

A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.

Float

A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.

Float

A coal cart.

Float

The free use of money for a time between occurrence of a transaction (such as depositing a check or a purchase made using a credit card), and the time when funds are withdrawn to cover the transaction; also, the money made available between transactions in that manner.

Float

A vehicle on which an exhibit or display is mounted, driven or pulled as part of a parade. The float often is based on a large flat platform, and may contain a very elaborate structure with a tableau or people.

Float

To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up.
The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground.
Three blustering nights, borne by the southern blast,I floated.

Float

To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to drift along; to move or glide without effort or impulse on the surface of a fluid, or through the air.
They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the wind.
There seems a floating whisper on the hills.

Float

To cause to float; to cause to rest or move on the surface of a fluid; as, the tide floated the ship into the harbor.
Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock.

Float

To flood; to overflow; to cover with water.
Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands.

Float

To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet.

Float

To support and sustain the credit of, as a commercial scheme or a joint-stock company, so as to enable it to go into, or continue in, operation.

Float

The time interval between the deposit of a check in a bank and its payment

Float

The number of shares outstanding and available for trading by the public

Float

A drink with ice cream floating in it

Float

An elaborate display mounted on a platform carried by a truck (or pulled by a truck) in a procession or parade

Float

A hand tool with a flat face used for smoothing and finishing the surface of plaster or cement or stucco

Float

Something that remains on the surface of a liquid

Float

Be in motion due to some air or water current;
The leaves were blowing in the wind
The boat drifted on the lake
The sailboat was adrift on the open sea
The shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore

Float

Be afloat; stay on a liquid surface; not sink

Float

Set afloat;
He floated the logs down the river
The boy floated his toy boat on the pond

Float

Circulate or discuss tentatively; test the waters with;
The Republicans are floating the idea of a tax reform

Float

Move lightly, as if suspended;
The dancer floated across the stage

Float

Put into the water;
Float a ship

Float

Make the surface of level or smooth;
Float the plaster

Float

Allow (currencies) to fluctuate;
The government floated the ruble for a few months

Float

Convert from a fixed point notation to a floating point notation;
Float data

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