fleet

fleet (flēt) , intransitive verb

[Old English fleten, fleoten, to swim, Anglo-Saxon fleótan to swim, float; akin to Dutch vlieten to flow, Old Saxon fliotan, Old High German fliozzan, German fliessen, Icelandic fljōta to float, flow, Swedish flyta, Dutch flyde, Latin pluere to rain, Greek plei^n to sail, swim, float, Sanskrit plu to swim, sail. r84. Compare Fleet, n. & a., Float, Pluvial, Flow.]

To sail; to float. [Obsolete]

And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet. — Spenser

To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.

All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand,... Dissolved on earth, fleet hither. — Milton

(Nautical) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser.

(Nautical) To move or change in position; -- said of persons; as, the crew fleeted aft.

Fleet , transitive verb

To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf. — Spenser

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

Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly. — Shakespeare

(a) (Nautical) To draw apart the blocks of; -- said of a tackle. — Totten

(b)

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

(Nautical) To move or change in position; used only in special phrases; as, of fleet aft the crew.

We got the long “stick”... down and “fleeted” aft, where it was secured. — F. T. Bullen

Fleet , adjective

[Compare Icelandic fljōtr quick. See Fleet, v. i.]

Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble.

In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong. — Milton

Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil. [Provincial English] — Mortimer

Fleet , noun

[Old English flete, fleote, Anglo-Saxon fleót ship, from fleótan to float, swim. See Fleet, v. i. and compare Float.]

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

Collocations (1)

Fleet captain , the senior aid of the admiral of a fleet, when a captain. — Ham. Nav. Encyc

Fleet , noun

[Anglo-Saxon fleót a place where vessels float, bay, river; akin to Dutch vliet rill, brook, German fliess. See Fleet, v. i.]

A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; -- obsolete, except as a place name, -- as Fleet Street in London.

Together wove we nets to entrap the fish In floods and sedgy fleets. — Matthewes

A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up).

Collocations (1)

Fleet parson , a clergyman of low character, in, or in the vicinity of, the Fleet prison, who was ready to unite persons in marriage (called Fleet marriage) at any hour, without public notice, witnesses, or consent of parents.

Fleet , transitive verb

[Anglo-Saxon flēt cream, from fleótan to float. See Fleet, v. i.]

To take the cream from; to skim. [Provincial English] — Johnson