Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an official order to leave a town or district.

1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 34: floater [...] a mandatory order to quit a community or locality.
1927		H. Yenne ‘Prison Lingo’ in AS II:6 280: One of the ‘jokers’ (men) had just ‘got the floater’ (order to leave the city within forty-eight hours).
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 306: They would be lucky to leave the valley with fifteen dollars. This, they hoped, would get them to Denver, where, if they couldn’t find work they might at least get a ‘floater’ into Kansas.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 177: When I got a floater out of the state I planned to ride as far as El Paso.
1954		J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday (1955) 21: Joseph and Mary was given a floater so strongly worded that it singed his eyelashes. The police even bought him a bus ticket.

2. a sentence suspended on condition that the offender leaves the area.

1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 34: floater [...] A suspended sentence.
1923		‘Gila Monster Route’ in N. Anderson Hobo 195: But the john had a bundle, the worker’s plea, / So he gave him a floater and set him free.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 65: I was just after gettin’ a six months’ floater out of Denver.
1931–4		D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 332/1: floater, n. A release from jail with admonition to leave town immediately.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 100: The copper agreed to give him a floater (out-of-state probation) for $50.
1967		in J.P. Spradley You Owe Yourself a Drunk (1988) 36: Next time I took a floater, 90 days suspended.
1971		N. Cassady First Third 67: Father was released on a ‘floater’.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 251: The police had given him a ‘floater.’ They told him to permanently vacate Denver or they were going to bury him in prison or a grave.
2002		(con. 1930s) W. Fiennes Snow Geese (2002) 167: You’d get a suspended sentence called a floater.