What is "floating dam"

Floating \Float"ing\, a.

1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air.

2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating ribs in man and some other animals.

3. 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 Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island.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.

   1. A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. See Bateau.

   2. (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.

   3. 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.

   4. 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.

      1. An anchored dam.

      2. 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.