floaty

Tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.

Adjective

  1. Tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.
    • [S]ome fevv buttes of beare being flotie they got, vvhich though it had lien ſix moneths vnder vvater vvas very good, […] - 1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “The Generall Historie of the Bermudas, Now Called the Summer...
    • The Oxonians, too, though, judging by avoirdupois, they were big enough for the floatiest outrigger, preferred the old friend in which they had won the 'Varsity in 1878 and 'suffered' last year. - 1880 April, “The...
    • There was no going back to being Mommy Belle, […] the woman who made the "floatiest" matzoh balls on the face of the earth. - 1998 September, Annie Garrett, After You […], New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page...

    1. (nautical, archaic) Of a ship: having a shallow draft (the depth from the waterline to the bottom of a vessel's hull), and thus drawing less (that is, floating higher in) water.

      • I then told my Lord of Eſſex that mine vvas a floaty ſhip and vvell appointed for that ſervice; […] - a. 1610 (date written), Francis Vere, “The Calis-journey”, in William Dillingham, editor, The Commentaries of Sr....
      • The extream length of a Ship makes her unapt to ſtay, eſpecially if ſhe be floatie and vvant ſharpneſſe of vvay forvvard. - a. 1612 November 16 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Walter Raleigh, “[Sir Walter Raleigh’s...
      • Girdling the ship would make her one of the finest ships in the whole universe, for it would make her much more floatier and carry her guns higher, and she would bear the better sail and be a better and securer ship to...
  2. Of music: light and relaxing.
    • All the floaty music in the world could not disguise my grunts [during a massage] as I clenched my teeth and curled my toes to fight the pain. - 2005 September 17, Adam Fresco, “Definitely knot one for the wimps”, in...
    • Notice that this chord seems to be floating up in the air. If you strum Dsus2 instead of D, you can make your chord seem more haunting or drifting. […] This chord [Dsus4] has an even floatier feel than Dsus2 and is out...
  3. Of an object: light and flimsy or soft; specifically, of a dress: lightweight, so as to rise away from the body when the wearer is moving.
    • O here is a Bed / Shrinkproofer than that, / A floatier, boatier / Bed than that! - 1976, Sylvia Plath, “The Bed Book”, in The It-Doesn’t-Matter Suit and Other Stories, London: Faber & Faber, published 2014, →ISBN, page...
    • But deep down she had a passion for kitchen comforts— […] for a perfectly piped butter icing on top of the highest, lightest, floatiest lemon cupcake. - 2011, Jenny Colgan, chapter 1, in Meet Me at the Cupcake Café,...
    • Flip had spent all morning trimming and styling her hair so it looked as much like her nephew’s as possible. The lady had put on her longest, floatiest dress too, in the hope that the man would be able to fit into it. -...

    Synonyms: gossamer

  4. Of a person: feeling calm, dreamy, happy, etc., as if floating in the air.
    • [A]s you stand on the steps of the Castle Green in this strange place, you feel quite floaty. This you are told is the scene of the Merthyr riots; and you feel still floatier as you body forth before your eyes a picture...
    • Surprise! Surprise! When the lights flick on in a darkened room and grinning friends spring from behind the sofa, joy jumps up like a jack-in-the-box. We feel bubblier than any vintage champagne, floatier than a bunch...
  5. Of speech or writing: overly complicated or elaborate; flowery, grandiloquent.
    • [William Butler] Yeats divests himself of his floatier fin-de-siècle rhetoric to discover a hard plain speech both properly twentieth century and pre-nineteenth century. - 2013, Adam Piette, “Modernist Victorianism”, in...

Origin

From float (noun or verb) + -y (suffix meaning ‘inclined to’ forming adjectives). Compare Middle English floti, floty (“of a place: well supplied with water”).

Forms

floatier floatiest

Derived

floatily floatiness over-floaty

Noun

  1. A particle of food, etc., found floating in liquid.
    • Why don't you stop slathering millions of things on your face, and lather up with my gentle Swan? It's the loveliest, pure, mild floatie—why, it'll get you clean as a baby! - 1945 September 24, “Memos to Mama from Baby...
    • I have always loved the way he just walks up and feels free to drink out my glass or bottle of water. I admit, when he was a baby I tried to give him his own sippy cup and avoid the little ‘floaties’ that little ones...
    • If I dip my Oreos into milk, once the Oreos are gone I can't drink the milk with the floaties in it no matter how much milk is left. - 2011, Judy Reiser, “Assorted Nuts”, in Admit It, You’re Crazy! Quirks,...
  2. A lilo (inflatable air mattress) or similar object that floats on water and can be lain or sat on.
    • I am going to begin with a confession that seems to me to be startling less for its content than for the sheer number of similar stories that I have heard related among so many of my successful women friends. Prevalent...
    • My best friend just may be the Florida champ of floatie racing. Or she at least has the Cape Canaveral title. She pushed the flamingo floatie to the opposite end of the pool in record time. I come in a distant second,...
  3. Synonym of armband (“one of a pair of inflatable plastic bands, normally worn on the upper arms, to help the wearer (often a child) float in water and learn to swim”).
    • As an escaped megalodon swims close to a busy beach, we see humanity at its most chompable: chubby kids in floaties, doofuses on pontoons, some dork in a tight Speedo rolling around in one of those big inflatable Zorb...

    Synonyms: armfloat water wing armband

Origin

From float (noun) + -y (suffix forming diminutive nouns).

Forms

floaties floatie