fleet

noun
/ˈfliːt//fliːt/

Etymology

From Middle English flete (“bay, gulf”), from Old English flēot (“a bay, gulf, an arm of the sea, estuary, the mouth of a river”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleut, from Proto-Germanic *fleutą. Cognate with Dutch vliet (“stream, river, creek, inlet”), German Fleet (“watercourse, canal”).

  1. inherited from *flutōną — “to float
  2. inherited from *flotōn
  3. inherited from flēot — “ship
  4. inherited from flete

Definitions

  1. A group of vessels or vehicles.

    • It was planning to use an '807' for one day only as part of a shakedown test, ahead of the fleet's formal entry to service which is currently planned for November.
  2. Any group of associated items.

    • This is especially true in distributed printing environments, where a fleet of printers is shared by users on a network.
  3. A large, coordinated group of people.

  4. + 26 more definitions
    1. A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels

      A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.

    2. Any command of vessels exceeding a squadron in size, or a rear admiral's command,…

      Any command of vessels exceeding a squadron in size, or a rear admiral's command, composed of five sail-of-the-line, with any number of smaller vessels.

    3. The individual waves in corrugated fiberboard.

    4. An arm of the sea

      An arm of the sea; a run of water, such as an inlet or a creek.

      • a certain Flete [...] through which little Boats used to come to the aforesaid Town
      • Together wove we nets to entrap the fish In floods and sedgy fleets.
    5. A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.

    6. To float.

      • Legions of Spirits fleeting in the aire, Direct our Bullets and our weapons pointes […]
      • Antony: Our force by land / Hath nobly held; our sever'd navy too, / Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-like.
    7. To pass over rapidly

      To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.

      • Long were to tell the troublous stormes, that tosse The private state, and make the life unsweet Who swelling sayles in Caspian sea doth crosse, And in frayle wood on Adrian gulf doth fleet
    8. To hasten over

      To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.

      • And so through this dark world they fleet / Divided, till in death they meet.
    9. To flee, to escape, to speed away.

      • It began to be chill; the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more on her beam-ends.
    10. To evanesce, disappear, die out.

    11. To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage

      To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.

      • To fleet tackle when pennant block is used, the keeper, with a strap and heaver, racks both parts of hawser together near pennant block, and the tackle is then overhauled and hooked by the men assigned to those duties.
    12. To move or change in position.

      • We got the long "stick" [...] down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured.
    13. To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.

    14. To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.

    15. To take the cream from

      To take the cream from; to skim.

    16. Swift in motion

      Swift in motion; light and quick in going from place to place.

      • In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong.
      • […]it was not till the afternoon that they came out on the high-road, their first high-road; and there disaster, fleet and unforeseen, sprang out on them — disaster momentous indeed to their expedition[…]
      • Aye, the Chicopee, a fine-un, she were. Clean built and trig-lookin’! None more fleet in ‘64 than she...
    17. Light

      Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.

      • fleet Soil, and that 'tis mixed with a great quantity of Earth, Marle, Mud or Clay, &c.
    18. Obsolete form of flet (“house, floor, large room”).

      • Fire and fleet and candle-lighte
    19. A river (the River Fleet) in London, England, now buried underground, that flowed under…

      A river (the River Fleet) in London, England, now buried underground, that flowed under the Eastern end of the present Fleet Street.

    20. A former prison (the Fleet Prison) in London, which originally stood near the stream.

    21. A river, the Water of Fleet, in Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland.

    22. A river in Highland council area, Scotland, which flows into Loch Fleet.

    23. A town and civil parish with a town council in Hart district, Hampshire, England (OS grid…

      A town and civil parish with a town council in Hart district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU8054).

    24. A village and civil parish in South Holland district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref…

      A village and civil parish in South Holland district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF3823).

    25. A hamlet in Alberta, Canada.

    26. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for fleet. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA