fleet

Meanings

Noun

• A group of vessels or vehicles.
• Any group of associated items.
• A large, coordinated group of people.
• A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
• 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.
• An arm of the sea; a run of water, such as an inlet or a creek.
• A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.

Verb

• To float.
• To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.
• To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.
• To flee, to escape, to speed away.
• To evanesce, disappear, die out.
• To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.
• To move or change in position.
• To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.
• To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
• To take the cream from; to skim.

Adjective

• Swift in motion; light and quick in going from place to place.
• Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.

Origin

• From Middle English flete, flet, from Old English flēot, likely related to Proto-Germanic *flutōną.
• From Middle English flete, flete, from Old English flēot. Cognate with Dutch vliet ("stream, river, creek, inlet"), German Fleet ("watercourse, canal").
• From Middle English fleten ("float"), from Old English flēotan ("float"), from Proto-Germanic *fleutaną.
• See flet.