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to refloat

to refloat

1 7.7
Make a boat that is stuck on the ground float again
  • verb
  • /ˌriːˈfloʊt/
: reflotar
  • refloat the ship
  • refloat the hull

Examples

  • Do you actually believe you can refloat a ship of that size?

  • Next came the hard part, refloating the ship.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The manager of the second was eager that I should include the exact address of his premises in my prospective best-seller—which in his opinion ought to be about an attempt to refloat the torpedoed ship, in the style of Raise the Titanic, and featuring neo-Nazi conspirators.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The crew worked tirelessly to refloat the stranded yacht before the storm hit.

  • After several attempts, they finally managed to refloat the cargo ship that had run aground.

  • To prevent further damage, the salvage team was called in to refloat the vessel as soon as possible.

Antonyms

104 1.0

To go down below the surface of water and become underwater

Surface Forms

refloat infinitive
refloated past
refloated past participle
refloating present participle
refloats third person singular

Morphology

refloat = float (transparent) = re + float

This is standard re- prefixation on 'float', and the sense 'make float again' or 'float again' is directly predictable.

Etymology

Refloat comes from the parts re- meaning 'again' and float meaning 'to rest on water'. So to refloat a boat is to make it 'float' again after it has run aground.