Float / floating
Working a concrete surface with a flat magnesium, aluminum, or wood tool to level it, embed aggregate, and open the surface. Floating precedes troweling.
What does float / floating mean?
Floating produces an open-textured surface that is durable and slip-resistant on its own, and many exterior slabs are floated and then broomed without ever being troweled. Magnesium floats close the surface less aggressively than steel and are preferred on air-entrained exterior concrete. The timing of floating is dictated by the concrete, not the schedule: too early traps bleed water, too late and the surface will not respond.
In practice
On an exterior sidewalk, floating and brooming is the correct finish; reaching for a steel trowel is how crews cause delamination.