Floor

Pronunciation

UK enPR: flÃ´, IPA: /flÉ”Ë/
US enPR: flÃ´r, IPA: /flÉ”ËÉ¹/, /floÊŠÉ¹/
Rhymes: -É”Ë(É¹)
Homophones: flaw in non-rhotic accents

Origin

From Middle English, from Old English flÅr ("floor, pavement, ground, bottom"), from Proto-Germanic *flÅrÅ, *flÅrÃ´, *flÅraz ("flat surface, floor, plain"), from Proto-Indo-European *plÃµro- ("level, even"), from Proto-Indo-European *pele-, *plet-, *plÄk- ("broad, flat, plain"). Cognate with West Frisian flier ("floor"), Dutch vloer ("floor"), German Flur ("field, floor, entrance hall"), Swedish flor ("floor of a cow stall"), Irish urlÃ¡r ("floor"), Scottish Gaelic lÃ r ("floor, ground, earth"), Welsh llawr ("ground, pavement"), Latin plÄnus ("level, flat").

Full definition of floor

Noun

floor

(plural floors)

The bottom or lower part of any room; the supporting surface of a room.
The room has a wooden floor.
The lower inside surface of a hollow space.
Many sunken ships rest on the ocean floor.
The floor of a cave served the refugees as a home.
The pit floor showed where a ring of post holes had been.
A structure formed of beams, girders, etc, with proper covering, which divides a building horizontally into storeys/stories.
The supporting surface or platform of a structure such as a bridge.
Wooden planks of the old bridge's floor were nearly rotten.
A storey/story of a building.

1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 19, When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him.

For years we lived on the third floor.
In a parliament, the part of the house assigned to the members, as opposed to the viewing gallery.
Hence, the right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event.
Will the senator from Arizona yield the floor?
The mayor often gives a lobbyist the floor.
(nautical) That part of the bottom of a vessel on each side of the keelson which is most nearly horizontal.
(mining) The rock underlying a stratified or nearly horizontal deposit.
(mining) A horizontal, flat ore body.
(mathematics) The largest integer less than or equal to a given number.
The floor of 4.5 is 4.
(gymnastics) An event performed on a floor-like carpeted surface.
(finance) A lower limit on the interest rate payable on an otherwise variable-rate loan, used by lenders to defend against falls in interest rates. Opposite of a cap.

Synonyms

(right to speak) possession UK

Antonyms

ceiling

Verb

To cover or furnish with a floor.

1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 1, The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, ….

floor a house with pine boards
To strike down or lay level with the floor; to knock down.

As soon as our driver saw an insurgent in a car holding a detonation device, he floored the pedal and was 2,000 feet away when that car bomb exploded. We escaped certain death in the nick of time!

To silence by a conclusive answer or retort.

Floored or crushed by him. — Coleridge

floor an opponent
To amaze or greatly surprise.
We were floored by his confession.
(colloquial) To finish or make an end of.

I've floored my little-go work — ed Hughes

floor a college examination

Related terms

(a) (Shipbuilding) A longitudinal section, showing a shipas divided at the water line.(b) (Arch.) A horizontal section, showing the thickness ofthe walls and partitions, arrangement of passages,apartments, and openings at the level of any floor ofa house.