What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Swell vs Float - What's the difference?

swell | float |

In intransitive terms the difference between swell and float

is that swell is to be raised to arrogance while float is to automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change.

In transitive terms the difference between swell and float

is that swell is to raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate while float is to use a float (tool).

As an adjective swell

is excellent.

swell

English

Verb

  • To become bigger, especially due to being engorged.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
  • To cause to become bigger.
  • Rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring.
  • * Atterbury
  • It is low ebb with his accuser when such peccadilloes are put to swell the charge.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.}}
  • * 2013 June 18, (Simon Romero), " Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders," New York Times (retrieved 21 June 2013):
  • After a harsh police crackdown last week fueled anger and swelled protests, President Dilma Rousseff, a former guerrilla who was imprisoned under the dictatorship and has now become the target of pointed criticism herself, tried to appease dissenters by embracing their cause on Tuesday.
  • To grow gradually in force or loudness.
  • The organ music swelled .
  • To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate.
  • to be swelled with pride or haughtiness
  • To be raised to arrogance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Here he comes, swelling like a turkey cock.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • You swell at the tartan, as the bull is said to do at scarlet.
  • To be elated; to rise arrogantly.
  • * Dryden
  • Your equal mind yet swells not into state.
  • To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant.
  • swelling''' words; a '''swelling style
  • To protuberate; to bulge out.
  • A cask swells in the middle.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of swelling.
  • Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force.
  • * Landor:
  • the swell and subsidence of his periods
  • A long series of ocean waves, generally produced by wind, and lasting after the wind has ceased.
  • * 1883 , , Treasure Island , ch. 24:
  • There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea.
  • (music) A gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • (music) A device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ.
  • (music) A division in a pipe organ, usually the largest enclosed division.
  • A hillock or similar raised area of terrain.
  • * 1909 , , The Last of the Chiefs , ch. 2:
  • Off on the crest of a swell a moving figure was seen now and then. "Antelope," said the hunters.
  • (informal) A person who is dressed in a fancy or elegant manner.
  • * , "The Kickleburys on the Rhine" in The Christmas Books of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh :
  • It costs him no more to wear all his ornaments about his distinguished person than to leave them at home. If you can be a swell at a cheap rate, why not?
  • * 1887 , , The Cash Boy , ch. 9:
  • He was dressed in a flashy style, not unlike what is popularly denominated a swell .
  • (informal) A person of high social standing; an important person.
  • * 1864 , , The Small House at Allington , ch. 2:
  • "I am not in Mr Crosbie's confidence. He is in the General Committee Office, I know; and, I believe, has pretty nearly the management of the whole of it." . . .
    "I'll tell you what he is, Bell; Mr Crosbie is a swell'." And Lilian Dale was right; Mr Crosbie was a ' swell .
  • * 1906 , , The Trespasser , ch. 8:
  • You buy a lot of Indian or halfbreed loafers with beaver-skins and rum, go to the Mount of the Burning Arrows, and these fellows dance round you and call you one of the lost race, the Mighty Men of the Kimash Hills. And they'll do that while the rum lasts. Meanwhile you get to think yourself a devil of a swell —you and the gods!

    Synonyms

    * (person dressed in a fancy or elegant manner) dandy, dude, toff * (person of high social standing) toff

    Derived terms

    * ground swell, groundswell * upswell * wind swell

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Excellent.
  • * 2012 , (Ariel Levy), "The Space In Between", The New Yorker , 10 Sep 2012:
  • Orgasms are swell , but they are not the remedy to every injustice.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    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