float vs windmill

float

noun
  • A breakdancing move in which the body is held parallel to the floor while balancing on one or both hands. 

  • A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. 

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

  • A float board. 

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

  • Premiums taken in but not yet paid out. 

  • A floating-point number, especially one that has lower precision than a double. 

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

  • A visual style on a web page that causes the styled elements to float above or beside others. 

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

  • The gas-filled sac, bag, or body of a siphonophore; a pneumatophore. 

  • Any object (element) whose location in composition (page makeup, pagination) does not flow within body text but rather floats outside of it, usually anchored loosely (in buoy metaphor) to spots within it (citations, callouts): a figure (image), table, box, pull quote, ornament, or other floated element. 

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

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

  • A car carrier or car transporter truck or truck-and-trailer combination. 

  • One of the loose ends of yarn on an unfinished work. 

  • A small vehicle used for local deliveries, especially in the term milk float. 

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

  • A lowboy trailer. 

  • Funds committed to be paid but not yet paid. 

  • A floating toy made of foam, used in swimming pools. 

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

  • 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. 

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

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

  • To circulate. 

  • To spread plaster over (a surface), using the tool called a float. 

  • (of currencies) To have an exchange value determined by the markets, as opposed to by central fiat. 

  • To move in a particular direction with the liquid in which one is floating. 

  • To be capable of floating. 

  • To be supported by a liquid of greater density, such that part (of the object or substance) remains above the surface. 

  • To cause something to be suspended in a liquid of greater density. 

  • To remain airborne, without touching down, for an excessive length of time during landing, due to excessive airspeed during the landing flare. 

  • To propose (an idea) for consideration. 

  • To move in a fluid manner. 

  • To drift gently through the air. 

  • 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. 

  • To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). 

  • To automatically adjust a parameter as related parameters change. 

  • To use a float (rasp-like tool) upon. 

  • (of an idea or scheme) To be viable. 

  • To drift or wander aimlessly. 

  • To extend a short-term loan to. 

  • To transport by float (vehicular trailer). 

  • To perform a float. 

  • To cause (an element within a document) to float above or beside others. 

windmill

noun
  • A breakdancing move in which the dancer rolls his/her torso continuously in a circular path on the floor, across the upper chest, shoulders and back, while twirling the legs in a V shape in the air. 

  • A pitch where the pitcher swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball. 

  • A child's toy consisting of vanes mounted on a stick that rotate when blown by a person or by the wind. 

  • Any of various muscle exercises in which a large deal of the body makes a great circle, typically one where a kettlebell is raised overhead and the torso is rotated to the other side with the hand reaching its foot (hitting the core, glutes, hamstrings, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids and rotator cuffs) but sometimes even a windshield wiper. 

  • Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Byasa, the wings of which resemble the vanes of a windmill. 

  • An imaginary enemy, but presented as real. 

  • A guitar move where the strumming hand mimics a turning windmill. 

  • A machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails. 

  • The structure containing such machinery. 

  • The false shower. 

  • A dunk where the dunker swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball through the hoop. 

verb
  • To rotate with a sweeping motion. 

  • Of a rotating part of a machine, to (become disengaged and) rotate freely. 

How often have the words float and windmill occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )