The Collaborative International Dictionary
Floating \Float"ing\, a.
Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air.
Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating ribs in man and some other animals.
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Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as, floating capital; a floating debt. Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island. --Macaulay. Floating anchor (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail. Floating battery (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the bombardment of a place. Floating bridge.
A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. See Bateau.
(Mil.) 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.
A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power.
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The landing platform of a ferry dock. Floating cartilage (Med.), a cartilage which moves freely in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the functions of the latter. Floating dam.
An anchored dam.
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A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock.
Floating derrick, a derrick on a float for river and harbor use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor improvements, etc.
Floating dock. (Naut.) See under Dock.
Floating harbor, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships riding at anchor to leeward.
--Knight.Floating heart (Bot.), a small aquatic plant ( Limnanthemum lacunosum) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water of American ponds.
Floating island, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs.
Floating kidney. (Med.) See Wandering kidney, under Wandering.
Floating light, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy or floating stage.
Floating liver. (Med.) See Wandering liver, under Wandering.
Floating pier, a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide.
Floating ribs (Anat.), the lower or posterior ribs which are not connected with the others in front; in man they are the last two pairs.
Floating screed (Plastering), a strip of plastering first laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the coat.
Floating threads (Weaving), threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric.
WordNet
n. a temporary bridge built over a series of pontoons [syn: pontoon bridge, bateau bridge]
Wikipedia
The term floating bridge may refer to the following:
Usage examples of "floating bridge".
He caught a glimpse of what approached from upstreamanother floating bridge, packed with pikemen and archers.
He felt uneasy, crossing the river in an armored vehicle on a floating bridge&mdash.
She had to watch, it was the only currency she had to pay with: Watch and bear witness to the Stand at Floating Bridge.
The floating bridge rocked and shuddered under the sudden impact of thousands of half-tonne dogs accelerating to their running pace.
As a section was readied, it was pushed into the water, moving the entire floating bridge closer to the opposite bank.
It was simple enough to throw a truss or floating bridge across the gap, but the Celestials now had the technology to blow such things up faster than they could be constructed.
The two forts were connected by a floating bridge supported by twenty-two sunken piers in timber caissons which spanned the narrow channel at the head of the lake.
Together they rode to the brink of the rushing water, just below the floating bridge, and plunged in.
It wasenough to throw a truss or floating bridge across the gap, butCelestials now had the technology to blow such things up fasterthey could be constructed.