DCHP-1 Online
floater 
1 n. North a sealskin bag used as a buoy or float.
See also: dan (def. 1)
- 1578 [When they shoote at a greate fishe with any of theyr Dartes, they vse to tye a bladder thereunto, whereby they may the better finde them agayne, and the fishe not able to carrie it so easily away, for that the bladder dothe boy the darte, will at length be weerie, and dye therewith.]
- 1942 Flashing out with her slim, sharp tusks, she ripped the precious floater to bits
2a n. Nfld a fisherman who establishes no shore base but remains at sea following the fish from place to place.
See also: stationer liveyere (def. 1)
- 1909 The "Floaters" leave the Newfoundland ports about the 1st of June, and fish in the Straits of Belle Isle, from Mecatina Islands to Greenly.
- 1924 Floaters. Labrador codders who move during the summer.
- 1942 The "floaters," who come here to fish for cod in the summer are five times as numerous [as the liveyeres].
- 1965 . . . Grenfell's Mission was ministering to both the "floaters" and the shore fishermen
2b n. a person who lives at home and travels some distance each week to work.
- 1930 These, coming from their homes to work in and about the mines, and returning each week end, are called "floaters."
- 1578 [When they shoote at a greate fishe with any of theyr Dartes, they vse to tye a bladder thereunto, whereby they may the better finde them agayne, and the fishe not able to carrie it so easily away, for that the bladder dothe boy the darte, will at length be weerie, and dye therewith.]