floater

Agent noun of float; one who or that which floats.

An employee of a company who does not have fixed tasks to do but fills in wherever needed, usually when someone else is away.

(sports) An unaffiliated player.

(politics) A voter who shifts from party to party, especially one whose vote can be purchased.

(politics, US) A person, such as a delegate to a convention or a member of a legislature, who represents an irregular constituency, such as one formed by a union of the voters of two counties neither of which has a number sufficient to be allowed a (or an extra) representative of its own.

(US, politics) One who votes illegally in various polling places or election districts, either under false registration made by himself or under the name of some properly registered person who has not already voted.

An "extra" male at a dinner party, or a young friend of the hostess, whose assignment is to entertain the female guests.

(ophthalmology) A threadlike speck in the visual field that seems to move, possibly caused by degeneration of the vitreous humour.

A small suet dumpling put into soup.

(Australia) A pie floater.

(police jargon) A corpse floating in a body of water.

(vulgar) A piece of faeces that floats.

(slang, by extension) Someone who attaches themselves to a group of people, much to the dismay of that group, and repeatedly shows up to participate in group activities despite attempts to get rid of, or “flush,” said individual.

(insurance) A policy covering property at more than one location or which may be in transit.

(finance) A floating rate bond.

(surfing) A maneuver in which a surfer transitions above the unbroken face of the wave onto the lip, or on top of the breaking section of the wave.

(two-up) A coin which does not spin when thrown in the air.

(India) A sandal.

A kind of river mussel (genus Anodonta).

(prison slang) A book circulated between prisoners that is not part of the official prison library.

(slang) A misstep; a faux pas.

(basketball) Early layup taken by a player moving towards the rim where, upon release, the ball floats in the air over the top of a defender before dropping softly into the hoop.