Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FLITE, v.i. [Sax. flitan.]

To scold; to quarrel. [Local.] – Grose.

FLIT'TED, pp.

Removed; flown swiftly; migrated.

FLIT'TER, n.

A rag; a tatter. [See Fritter.]

FLIT'TER, v.i.

To flutter, – which see. – Chaucer.

FLIT'TER-MOUSE, n. [Flit, flitter, and mouse; G. fledermaus.]

A bat; an animal that has the fur of a mouse, and membranes which answer the purpose of wings, and enable the animal to sustain itself in a fluttering flight.

FLIT'TI-NESS, n. [from flit.]

Unsteadiness; levity; lightness. – Bp. Hopkins.

FLIT'TING, n.

A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.

FLIT'TING, ppr.

Flying rapidly; fluttering; moving swiftly.

FLIT'TING-LY, adv.

In a flitting manner.

FLIT'TY, a.

Unstable; fluttering. – More.

FLIX, a. [Qu. from flax.]

Down; fur. [Not used.] – Dryden.

FLIX'WEED, n.

The Sisymbrium sophia, a species of watercresses, growing on walls and waste grounds. – Encyc.

FLO, a.

An arrow. [Not in use.] – Chaucer.

FLOAT, n. [Sax. flota; G. floss; D. vlot, vloot; Dan. flode; Sw. flotte; Fr. flotte; Sp. flota; It. flotta; Russ. plot.]

1. That which swims or is borne on water; as, a float of weeds and rushes. But particularly, a body or collection of timber, boards or planks, fastened together and conveyed down a stream; a raft. [The latter word is more generally used in the United States.]
2. The cork or quill used on an angling line, to support it and discover the bite of a fish. – Encyc. Walton.
3. The act of flowing; flux; flood; the primary sense, but obsolete. – Hooker.
4. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one deep. – Mortimer.
5. A wave. [French flot; L. fluctus.]

FLOAT, v.i. [Sax. fleotan, flotan; G. flössen; D. vlooten, vlotten; Fr. flotter; Dan. flöder. Either from the noun, or from the root of the L. fluo, to flow.]

1. To be borne or sustained on the surface of a fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up; not to sink; not to be aground. We say, the water is so shallow, the ship will not float.
2. To move or be conveyed on water; to swim. The raft floats flown the river. Three blustering nights, borne by the southern blast / I floated. – Dryden.
3. To be buoyed up and moved or conveyed in a fluid, as in air. They stretch their plumes and float upon the wind. Pope.
4. To move with a light irregular course. Qu. Locke.

FLOAT, v.t.

1. To cause to pass by swimming; to cause to be conveyed on water. The tide floated the ship into the harbor.
2. To flood; to inundate; to overflow; to cover with water. Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands. Dryden.

FLOAT-AGE, n.

Any thing that floats on the water. Encyc.

FLOAT-BOARD, n.

A board of the water-wheel of under-shot mills, which receives the impulse of the stream, by which the wheel is driven.

FLOAT-ED, pp.

1. Flooded; overflowed.
2. Borne on water.

FLOAT-ER, n.

One that floats or swims. – Eusden.

FLOAT-ING, ppr.

1. Swimming; conveying on water; overflowing.
2. Lying flat on the surface of the water; as, a floating leaf. – Martyn.
3. Circulating; passing; not fixed; as, a floating capital.

FLOAT-ING-BRIDGE, n.

1. In the United States, a bridge, consisting of logs or timber with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water.
2. In war, 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.

FLOAT-ING-ISL-AND, n.

A sort of food made of milk, white wine, sugar, and eggs, with raspberry or strawberry marmalade.

FLOAT'ING-LY, adv.

By floating.

FLOAT-STONE, n.

Swimming flint, spungiform quartz, a mineral of a spungy texture, of a whitish gray color, then with a tinge of yellow. It frequently contains a nucleus of common flint. Cleaveland.