flotation

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: flo=ta=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

flotation, n. [Cf. F. flottation a floating, flottaison water line, fr. flotter to float. See Flotilla.].

•  The act, process, or state of floating.  [1913 Webster]
•  The science of floating bodies.  [1913 Webster]
•  Act of financing, or floating, a commercial venture or an issue of bonds, stock, or the like.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Center of flotation. (Shipbuilding) (a) The center of any given plane of flotation. (b) More commonly, the middle of the length of the load water line. Rankine. -- Plane of flotation, or Line of flotation, the plane or line in which the horizontal surface of a fluid cuts a body floating in it. See Bearing, n., 9 (c). -- Surface of flotation (Shipbuilding), the imaginary surface which all the planes of flotation touch when a vessel rolls or pitches; the envelope of all such planes.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

flotation, n. (also floatation)
1 the process of launching or financing a commercial enterprise.
2 the separation of the components of crushed ore etc. by their different capacities to float.
3 the capacity to float.

Idiom

centre of flotation the centre of gravity in a floating body.

Etymology

alt. of floatation f. FLOAT, after rotation etc.

THESAURUS

flotation

coming out, curtain raiser, debut, embarkation, embarkment, first appearance, floating, inaugural address, inauguration, induction, initiation, installation, installment, introduction, issuance, issue, launching, maiden speech, opener, preliminary, stock issue, unveiling