floatagen.
/ˈfləʊtɪdʒ/, U.S. /ˈfloʊdɪdʒ/ 1. The action or state of floating.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving with current of air or water > movement in or on water > [noun] > moving freely on surface
floatOE
floating1555
floatage1626
1626 in 4th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1874) 11/1 [The ship ‘being taken at floatage’ by..a Dutch captain..was seized for the Lord High Admiral of England.]
1868 W. E. Gladstone Juventus Mundi xiii. 487 Ten days of floatage from the Bosphorus will give five hundred miles, or thereabouts, from that point.
2. concrete. Anything that floats.
a. = flotsam n.; also the right to appropriate flotsam.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > personal or movable property > flotsam or jetsam
shipwreck?a1100
wreke1420
wrecka1425
wrack1428
jetsam1491
waveson1526
wrake1544
sea-wracks1548
water1552
wracksa1586
flotsam1607
wrack-goods1671
floatage1672
wreck-goods1693
jettison1708
wreck-wood1821
wreckages1864
society > law > legal right > rights to do or use something > [noun] > rights of gathering or collecting
ware1491
wind-rake1622
wrack1639
floatage1858
1672 T. Manley Νομοθετης: Cowell's Interpreter sig. Gga Flotages..are such things as swim on the top of the Sea, or other great Rivers.
1858 in W. White Month in Yorks. xv. 138 Free fisheries, plantage, floatage..and other maritime franchises.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Floatage, synonymous with flotsam.
b. collective. Vessels that float on or pass up and down a river.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > [noun] > vessels used on rivers collectively
rivercraft1760
floatage1854
1854 Rep. Supreme Court Michigan 2 524 All streams susceptible of any valuable floatage.
1881 Echo 8 Dec. 2/4 The Government recouped itself out of tolls taken on the floatage.
c. A floating mass (of weeds).
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the world > plants > plants collectively > [noun] > mass of floating plant matter or aquatic roots
niggerhead1859
sudd1874
floatage1891
nigger's-head1921
1891 J. Winsor Columbus ix. 204 They found around the ships much green floatage of weeds.
3. Floating power, buoyancy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > action or process of floating > [noun] > ability or capacity for
buoyancy1766
natability1796
floatage1877
1877 R. D. Blackmore Erema I. ix. 102 Behind it..came all the ruin of the mill that had any floatage.
1883 Daily News 5 July 3/1 The metal pontoons giving floatage.
4. The part of a ship above the water-line.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > part of vessel above water > [noun]
cage1555
cage-worka1618
dead-work1653
quick-work1711
floatage1839
1839 F. Marryat Phantom Ship III. xli. 248 The whole of her floatage was above water.
1847 Illustr. London News 24 July 59/1 Nine inches more of floatage are required.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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