Flat vs Float - What's the difference?

In obsolete terms the difference between flat and float

is that flat is a dull fellow; a simpleton while float is the act of flowing; flux; flow.

In intransitive terms the difference between flat and float

is that flat is to become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface while float is to automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.

As nouns the difference between flat and float

is that flat is an area of level ground while float is a buoyant device used to support something in water or another liquid.

As verbs the difference between flat and float

is that flat is to make a flat call; to call without raising while float is of an object or substance, to be supported by a liquid of greater density than the object so as that part of the object or substance remains above the surface.

As an adjective flat

is having no variations in height.

As an adverb flat

is so as to be flat.

flat

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) flat, from (etyl) Flat] in (Online Etymology Dictionary) flatr (Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from (etyl) [http://ordnet.dk/ods/opslag?opslag=flad&submit=S%F8g Sanskrit, OHG and Greek cognates named.

Alternative forms

* , (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

(flatter)

Having no variations in height.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].}}

(of a tire or other inflated object) Deflated, especially because of a puncture.

(music, note) Lowered by one semitone.

(music) Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.

(music, voice) Without variations in pitch.

Of a carbonated drink, with all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.

Uninteresting.

* Coleridge

A large part of the work is, to me, very flat .

* Shakespeare

How weary, stale, flat , and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world.

(wine) Lacking acidity without being sweet.

Absolute.

(slang) Describing certain features, usually the breasts and/or buttocks, that are extremely small or not visible at all.

(of a battery) Unable to emit power; dead.

(juggling, of a throw) Without spin; spinless.

Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull.

The market is flat .

(phonetics, dated, of a consonant) sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant

(obsolete) Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.

* Shakespeare

flat burglary as ever was committed

* Marston

A great tobacco taker too, — that's flat .

Synonyms

* (having no variations in altitude) even, planar, plane, smooth, uniform * (deflated) deflated, punctured * (without variations in pitch) monotone * (uninteresting) boring, dull, uninteresting * flabby

Antonyms

* (having no variations in altitude) bumpy, cratered, hilly (of terrain), rough (of a surface), wrinkled (of a surface) * sharp * sharp

Derived terms

* flat as a pancake * flatcar * flat-footed * flatly * flatness * flat out * flat rate * flatten * that's flat

Adverb

(en adverb)

So as to be flat.

Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.

Bluntly.

I asked him if he wanted to marry me and he turned me down flat .

Not exceeding.

He can run a mile in four minutes flat .

Completely.

I am flat broke this month.

Directly; flatly.

* Herbert

Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty.

(finance, slang) Without allowance for accrued interest.

Synonyms

* (so as to be flat) * (bluntly) bluntly, curtly * (not exceeding) tops * (completely) absolutely, completely, utterly

Noun

(en noun)

An area of level ground.

* Francis Bacon

Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat .

* , chapter=3

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats . I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}

(music) A note played a semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol sign placed after the letter representing the note (e.g.'', B?) or in front of the note symbol (''e.g. ??).

(informal, automotive) A flat tyre/tire.

* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.

(in the plural) A type of ladies' shoes with very low heels.

(painting) A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolor/watercolour painting.

The part of something:

# (swordfighting) The side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.

# The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.

A wide, shallow container.

(geometry) A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.

A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.

A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.

(US) A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.

A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.

(mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.

(Raymond)

(obsolete) A dull fellow; a simpleton.

* Holmes

Or if you cannnot make a speech, / Because you are a flat .

(technical theatre) A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan or muslin that can be raised as a platform.

Antonyms

* (note) sharp * (shoes) high heels

Derived terms

* mudflat

Verb

(poker slang) To make a flat call; to call without .

To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.

(intransitive, music, colloquial) To fall from the pitch.

(music) To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.

(dated) To make flat; to flatten; to level.

(dated) To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.

* Barrow

Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted .

Etymology 2

From 1795, alteration of (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

(archaic, New England, now chiefly British) An apartment.

Synonyms

* (apartment) apartment

Derived terms

* block of flats * flatlet * flatmate * flatter

References

Anagrams

* 1000 English basic words ----

float

English

(wikipedia float)

Verb

(en verb)

(lb) Of an object or substance, to be supported by a liquid of greater density than the object so as that part of the object or substance remains above the surface.

The boat floated on the water.

The oil floated on the vinegar.

(lb) To cause something to be suspended in a liquid of greater density; as, to float a boat.

(lb) To be capable of floating.

That boat doesn’t float .

Oil floats on vinegar.

(lb) To move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating

I’d love to just float downstream.

(lb) To drift or wander aimlessly.

I’m not sure where they went... they’re floating around here somewhere.

Images from my childhood floated through my mind.

(lb) To drift gently through the air.

The balloon floated off into the distance.

(lb) To move in a fluid manner.

The dancer floated gracefully around the stage.

(of an idea or scheme) To be viable.

That’s a daft idea... it’ll never float .

(lb) To propose (an idea) for consideration.

I floated the idea of free ice-cream on Fridays, but no one was interested.

(lb) To automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.

(of currencies) To have an exchange value determined by the markets as opposed to by rule.

The yen floats against the dollar.

To allow (the exchange value of a currency) to be determined by the markets.

The government floated the pound in January.

Increased pressure on Thailand’s currency, the baht, in 1997 led to a crisis that forced the government to float the currency.

To extend a short-term loan to.

Could you float me $50 until payday?

To issue or sell shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, followed by listing on a stock exchange.

* 2005 June 21, Dewi Cooke, (The Age) [http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/shoemaker-strides-for-world-domination/2005/06/20/1119250927926.html?from=moreStories],

He [Mario Moretti Polegato] floated the company on the Milan Stock Exchange last December and sold 29 per cent of its shares, mostly to American investors.

* 2007', Jonathan Reuvid, '''''Floating Your Company: The Essential Guide to Going Public .

* 2011 , Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security , footnote i, page 269,

As a result of this reverse acquisition, Hurlingham changed its name to Manroy plc and floated shares on the Alternative Investment Market in London.

(lb) To use a float (tool).

It is time to float this horse's teeth.

(lb) To perform a .

Derived terms

* float someone's boat * whatever floats your boat

Noun

(en noun)

A buoyant device used to support something in water or another liquid.

Attach the float and the weight to the fishing line, above the hook.

A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft.

A float board.

A tool similar to a rasp, used in various trades.

A sort of trowel used for finishing concrete surfaces or smoothing plaster.

When pouring a new driveway, you can use a two-by-four as a float .

An elaborately decorated trailer or vehicle, intended for display in a parade or pageant.

That float covered in roses is very pretty.

(lb) A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially in the term milk float.

* 1913 ,

As soon as the skies brightened and plum-blossom was out, Paul drove off in the milkman's heavy float up to Willey Farm.

(lb) Funds committed to be paid but not yet paid.

Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit.

An offering of shares in a company (or units in a trust) to members of the public, normally followed by a listing on a stock exchange.

2006', ''You don't actually need a broker to buy shares in a '''float when a company is about to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.'' — financial tips article, ''Buying shares in a float [http://www.fido.asic.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/print/Buying+shares+in+a+float?opendocument]

(lb) The total amount of checks/cheques or other drafts written against a bank account but not yet cleared and charged against the account.

No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished.

(lb) Premiums taken in but not yet paid out.

We make a lot of interest from our nightly float .

(lb) A floating-point number.

That routine should not have used an int; it should be a float .

A soft beverage with a scoop of ice-cream floating in it.

It's true - I don't consider anything other than root-beer with vanilla ice-cream to be a "real" float .

A small sum of money put in a cashier's till at the start of business to enable change to be made.

(lb) A maneuver where a player calls on the flop or turn with a weak hand, with the intention of after a subsequent community card.

(lb) One of the loose ends of yarn on an unfinished work.

(lb) a car carrier or car transporter truck or truck-and-trailer combination

(lb) a lowboy trailer

(lb) A device sending a copious stream of water to the heated surface of a bulky object, such as an anvil or die.

(Knight)

(lb) The act of flowing; flux; flow.

(Francis Bacon)

A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep.

(Mortimer)

A polishing block used in marble working; a runner.

(Knight)

A coal cart.

(Simmonds)

Synonyms

* initial public offering

Derived terms

* floatplane

Anagrams

* aloft English ergative verbs 1000 English basic words