float

The delay in processing transactions by banks and others which may permit the interest-free use of funds for brief periods. Checks that have been credited to the depositor's bank account, but not yet debited to the drawer's bank account. The time between when a check is written and when such check is actually deducted from bank account. In banking practice, checks and other items in the process of collection. "Float" in a checking account occurs when someone writes a check without sufficient funds, then covers the check before it returns to the bank for payment. In re Clemente, Bkrtcy. Ohio, 15 B.R. 937, 941.

See also kiting

In manufacturing, the amount of goods in the process of production, usually measured in terms of the number of units in process divided by the number of finished units produced per average day and expressed as, for example, "six days float."

In finance, the unsold part of a security issue or the number of shares actively traded. To let a given currency "float" is to allow it to freely establish its own value as against other currencies (i.e. exchange rate) by the law of supply and demand. In land law, especially in the western states, a certificate authorizing the entry, by the holder, of a certain quantity of land not yet specifically selected or located. Wisconsin Cent. R. Co. v. Price County, 133 U.S. 496, 10 S.Ct. 341, 33 L.Ed. 687