levitate

Meanings

1. To cause to rise in the air and float, as if in defiance of gravity.
2. To be suspended in the air, as if in defiance of gravity.

Etymology

First attested in 1673; borrowed from New Latin levitātus, perfect passive participle of levitō (“to levitate; to have one's motion directed upward, as opposed to the downward motion induced by gravity”) (first attested c. 1670), modeled on gravitō (“to gravitate”) (← Latin gravis (“heavy”)), from levis (“light”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).