Meanings
- idiomaticinformalOne should do whatever stimulates one or suits one's inclinations.
You can fill your life with love / You can fill your life with owt / You can fill your lifе with food and drink / Or whatever floats your boat
2025, “The Hymn of the North”, in Jarvis Cocker (lyrics), More, performed by Pulp1 more example
You can achieve a non-ordinary or altered state with drugs, drumming, dancing, fasting, meditation, whatever floats your boat—floats it into the beyond, that is.
2025 May 17, James Parker, “Return of the Shaman”, in The Atlantic, →ISSNSynonyms: whatever butters your biscuit, whatever butters your biscuits, whatever butters your bread, whatever butters your muffin, whatever butters your toast, whatever humps your camel, whatever melts your butter, whatever sizzles your bacon
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseOne should do whatever stimulates one or suits one's inclinations.
Origin
The earliest evidence hints that the phrase originated in the late 1970s among pleasure boaters in the United States.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
whatever floats your boat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatever%20floats%20your%20boat
“whatever floats your boat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatever%20floats%20your%20boat. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whatever floats your boat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatever%20floats%20your%20boat.
Source: whatever floats your boat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.