flotage

American

[floh-tij] / ˈfloʊ tɪdʒ /

Or floatage

noun

an act of floating.
the state of floating.
floating power; buoyancy.
anything that floats; flotsam.
the part of a ship above the water line.

flotage British

/ ˈfləʊtɪdʒ /

noun

the act or state of floating; flotation
buoyancy; power or ability to float
objects or material that float on the surface of the water; flotsam

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of flotage

1620–30; float + -age; compare French flottage

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This "sinker," as the young engineers called it, had been weighed, and it exactly conformed to the requirement of Ethan's figures; it was just sufficient to overcome the flotage power of the cask.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023