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floater

1 9.8

A person who votes illegally at more than one polling place

noun
/ˈfloʊtər/

Archaic

: votante fraudulento

Surface Forms

floater singular

floaters plural

Morphology

floater = float (semi-transparent) = float + er

The illegal-voting sense is a figurative use (someone who 'floats' between polling places); the link is metaphorical and somewhat predictable but context-specific.

Etymology

Floater comes from the verb float, which means 'to move or drift'. In elections a floater is someone who 'drifts' between polling places to vote more than once, so the name shows the illegal moving about.