Sam,
A floater is a piece that is going to fall out when it is cut.. One could glue it back in place if they have cut it and it fell out. But it is really up to the pattern designer to make sure he or she does not have a floater in their patterns. If you have watched me as I start my pattern efforts, I have not done very well in catching my floater. Luckily, I have a lot of good friends here in the village that help me by pointing out my errors and then I can go back and correct them.
If you look at me Renaissance pattern and look at the eyelid on your right and the statues left side you can see an example of a floater, I am not proud of that but I just have not taken a moment to correct it. I will leave that one that way to help others understand this same question that you have, as I am NOT going to enter it in the pattern library anyway. It just is not a pattern that I like the outcome of and do not wish it to be in the library a year from now with my name on it...
Dick
heppnerguy