afloat

English

Etymology

From a- +‎ float.

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /əˈfloʊt/
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈfləʊt/
  • enPR: ə-flōtˈ
  • Rhymes: -əʊt

Adverb

afloat (not comparable)

  1. In or into a state of floating.
  2. In, or while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water; at sea.
    Antonym: ashore
    • 1788, Alexander Jardine, Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, &c.‎[3], London: T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 23, p. 236:
      […] that trade […] may likewise employ many useful hands both ashore and afloat,
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 11, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part II (The Sea Cook), page 88:
      They was the roughest crew afloat, was Flint’s; the devil himself would have been feared to go to sea with them.
    • 1947, James Michener, “The Strike”, in Tales of the South Pacific‎[4], New York: Dial, published 2014, page 315:
      Navy chow ashore is rarely as good as it is afloat, and for enlisted men it is usually much worse.
  3. Under water (bearing floating objects).
    Synonym: awash
    • 1695, Edmund Gibson (translator), Camden’s Britannia, London: A. Swalle, “Staffordshire,”[5]
      […] it [the River Dove] overflows and lays the meadows afloat in April, like another Nile.
  4. (figurative, of ideas, information, etc.) In or into circulation or currency.
    • 1587, Raphael Holinshed et al., Holinshed’s Chronicles‎[6], volume 3, Edward I, page 298:
      setting a lie aflote
    • 1878, Thomas Hardy, chapter 5, in The Return of the Native‎[7], volume 2, London: Smith, Elder, page 163:
      […] I shall not be judged fairly; it will get afloat that I am not a good girl,
    • 1757, William Burke, Edmund Burke, An Account of the European Settlements in America‎[8], London: R. and J. Dodsley, Volume 2, Part 7, Chapter 4, p. 150:
      […] as this example set the discourse about witchcraft afloat, some people, troubled with a similar complaint, began to fancy themselves bewitched too.
  5. (obsolete, figurative, of an emotional state) In or into a condition of stimulation, arousal, confusion, bewilderment, etc.
    Synonym: at sea
    • 1821, William Hazlitt, Table-Talk‎[9], London: John Warren, Essay 1, page 3:
      No angry passions rise to disturb the silent progress of the work, […] no irritable humours are set afloat:
    • 1878, John Berwick Harwood, chapter 17, in Helena Lady Harrogate,‎[10], volume 1, London: Richard Bentley, page 312:
      […] they knew how to abstain from the overdose of liquor that sets the brain afloat and loosens the tongue.

Adjective

afloat (not comparable)

  1. Floating.
    A rubber duck and other toys were afloat in the bath.
  2. In, or found while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water.
    Antonym: ashore
    • 1788, Alexander Jardine, Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, &c.‎[11], London: T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 23, p. 236:
      […] that trade […] may likewise employ many useful hands both ashore and afloat,
  3. Floating in the air; flowing freely; not tied, braided, etc. (of hair or clothing)
    • 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
      her black hair loose and a-float down her dazzling white neck
    • 1971, Poul Anderson, chapter 4, in The Broken Sword‎[12], New York: Ballantine Books, published 1981, page 11:
      unbound silvery-gold tresses afloat beneath a jeweled coronet
    • 2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 152:
      […] she roars down the street, dreads and feathers and cape afloat,
  4. Covered with water, bearing floating objects.
    Synonyms: awash, flooded
    The decks are afloat.
    • 1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 19, in The Yearling‎[13], New York: Scribner, page 233:
      The yard was afloat. Jody looked out of the window and saw two drowned biddies floating about with upturned bellies.
  5. (figurative) Covered, overspread, filled (with or in something).
    Synonyms: alive, awash
  6. (of an organization) Having just enough resources to continue to operate; barely able to pay expenses; (of a private individual, family, etc.) keeping one's head above water.
    Synonyms: on one's feet, solvent
    Antonyms: bankrupt, insolvent
    The donation will keep our business afloat for quite a while.
    • 1549, Miles Coverdale, transl., The Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the New Testament‎[17], London: Edward Whitchurche, Volume 2, Philippians 4:
      […] you nede not to be sorye, as thoughe your frendely liberalitie had not be very acceptable vnto me. I haue receaued euery thing, and now I am afloate, by your lyberall sendyng.
    • 1753, Tobias Smollett, chapter 54, in The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom‎[18], Edinburgh: Mundell & Son, published 1800, pages 306–307:
      He […] endeavoured, by forcing himself into a lower path of life than any he had hitherto trod, to keep himself afloat, with the portion of some tradesman’s daughter, whom he meant to espouse.
    • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 34, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 309:
      […] the price poor Jos Osborne had paid for her two horses was in itself sufficient to keep their little establishment afloat for a year, at least;
    • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 191:
      They somehow manage to keep "afloat," so as to obtain the needful funds to pay their passages and to purchase, tools and rations.
    • 2010, Nadifa Mohamed, Black Mamba Boy‎[19], New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 67:
      The clan handouts that kept other Somalis afloat were absent here, as the Yibros were so few and so poor.
    • 2025 June 21, Fredreka Schouten and Arit John, “The DNC’s cash crunch deepens as new filings show Republicans with a huge advantage”, in CNN‎[20]:
      The party’s cash crunch is serious enough that party officials have weighed seeking a line of credit to help it stay afloat, a development first reported by The New York Times.
  7. (figurative, of ideas, information, etc.) Believed or talked about by many people; being passed from person to person.
    Synonyms: circulating, in circulation, current
    The supervisor was never fired, though countless accusations of dishonesty were afloat.
    • 1945, Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited‎[21], London: Chapman & Hall, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 243:
      […] she and I were accepted, whatever ugly rumours had been afloat in the past year, as man and wife.
  8. (obsolete, figurative, of an emotional state) Stimulated, aroused, activated.
    • 1769, Elizabeth Griffith, The School for Rakes‎[22], London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, Epilogue, page 92:
      You’ll find, when once my passion is afloat, / The soul of Caesar, in a petticoat!
    • 1794, Thomas Holcroft, chapter 6, in The Adventures of Hugh Trevor‎[23], volume 1, London: Shepperson and Reynolds, page 46:
      My half frozen blood and my fears again afloat made me tremble through every limb;
  9. (obsolete, figurative) In a state of confusion, bewilderment, or distraction.
    Synonyms: at sea, bewildered, confused, distracted
    • 1789, Edward Gibbon, letter to Lord Sheffield dated August 1789, in Miscellaneous Works, London: A. Strahan et al., 1796, p. 201,[24]
      I know not what to say; my mind is all afloat; yet you will not reproach me with caprice or inconstancy.
    • 1887, Harry Castlemon, chapter 1, in Our Fellows‎[25], Philadelphia: John C. Winston, page 10:
      […] he could correctly analyze and parse any sentence you could give him, no matter how complex; but when it came to talking he was all afloat.

Usage notes

As an adjective, afloat can be used only postpositively: The cardboard ships were afloat in the bathtub, or The cardboard ships, afloat in the bathtub, were soon waterlogged; but not *The afloat toys soon sank because they were made of cardboard.

Translations

Preposition

afloat

  1. (obsolete) Floating upon.
    • early 1600s, John Webster and William Rowley, The Thracian Wonder, London: Thomas Johnson, 1661, Act I, Scene 1,[26]
      But Huswife, as for you, / You with your Brat, wee’l send afloat the Main,
    • 1642, Robert Cotton, The Troublesome Life and Raigne of King Henry the Third‎[27], London: George Lindsey, page 5:
      […] great wee see must be the art and cunning of that man, that keeps him afloat the streame of Soveraigne favour,
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