Yankee townships. 'Four hundred.' 'And how many floaters, i.e., purchasable?' 'Four hundred.'
1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. The Building Materials Exchange people were in line to the number of about 200, with a band, and were followed by a sixteen-horse stage of the 'Long Tom' shape containing a lot of floaters and some fifers and drummers.
4. (Western American).—A candidate representing several counties, and therefore not considered directly responsible to any one of them.
1853. Texas State Gazette, 16 July. J. W. Lawrence, Esq., requests us to withdraw his name as a candidate for floater in the district composed of the counties of Fayette, Bastrop, and Travis.
5. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.
Floating Academy, subs. phr.
(old).—The hulks; also Campbell's
academy (q.v.), and
FLOATING HELL (q.v.). For
synonyms, see Cage.
Floating Batteries, subs. phr.
(military).—1. Broken bread
in tea; also slingers (q.v.).
2. (American).—The Confederate bread rations during the Secession.
Floating Coffin, subs. phr. (nautical).—A
rotten ship.
Floating Hell, or Hell Afloat,
subs. phr. (nautical).—A ship
commanded by (1) a brutal
savage, or (2) a ruthless disciplinarian.
See also Floating
Academy.
Flock, subs. (colloquial).—A clergyman's
congregation. Also any
body of people with a common
haunt or interest: e.g., a family
of children, a company of soldiers,
a school of girls or boys, 'a cabful
of molls,' and such like.
TO FIRE INTO THE WRONG flock, verb. phr. (American pioneers').—To blunder. A variant is TO bark up the WRONG TREE.
1858. New York Herald, 9 Nov. When Mr. Saulsbury rose and called the Speaker's attention to the alleged blunder in the Secretary's report, his own friends jumped up in great excitement and pulled him down; he soon found out that he had FIRED INTO THE WRONG FLOCK.
Flock of Sheep, subs. phr.—1.
(gaming). A hand at dominoes set
out on the table.
2. (colloquial).—White waves on the sea: White horses (q.v.).
Flog, subs. (American thieves').—1.
A whip. A contraction of
Flogger (q.v.). To flog (now
recognised), is cited by B. E.
(1690), Grose, and the author of
Bacchus and Venus as Cant.
TO BE FLOGGED AT THE tumbler, verb. phr. (old).—To be whipped at the cart's tail. See Tumbler.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew.
TO FLOG THE DEAD HORSE, verb. phr. (common).—1. To work up an interest in a bygone subject; to try against heart; to do with no will nor liking for the job. [Bright said that Earl Russell's Reform Bill was a dead horse (q.v.), and every attempt to create enthusiasm in its favour was FLOGGING THE DEAD HORSE.]
2. (nautical).—To work off an advance of wages.
