fleet
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: nautical
transport
Etymology: From Middle English flete, flet (“fleet”), from Old English flēot (“ship”), likely related to Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”).
Inflected forms:
form: fleets
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: fleete
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: fleets
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: fleeting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: fleeted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: fleeted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: fleeter
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more fleet
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: fleetest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most fleet
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: A group of vessels or vehicles.
pos: noun
examples: He did discourse to us of the Dutch fleete being abroad, eighty-five of them still, and are now at the Texell, he believes, in expectation of our Eastland ships coming home with masts and hempe, and our loaden Hambrough ships going to Hambrough.
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.
gloss: Any group of associated items.
pos: noun
examples: This is especially true in distributed printing environments, where a fleet of printers is shared by users on a network.
gloss: A large, coordinated group of people.
pos: noun
examples: And after the past few days, in which a fleet of Republicans and the president himself have utilized Jews as human shields for racist rhetoric, the Jews are tired, tired, tired of being used as defenses against naked racism, tired of being used to justify conditions at detention camps. Just plain tired.
gloss: A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
pos: noun
examples: Despite the line proving to be a useful strategic route for men and supplies to the British naval fleets stationed at Scapa Flow in both world wars, the Duke's legacy looked to have passed into history when it was listed for closure in the infamous Beeching report.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: British-Royal-Navy
gloss: The individual waves in corrugated fiberboard.
pos: noun
gloss: To float.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: 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
gloss: To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England. They say many young gentlemen flock to him every day and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.
And so through this dark world they fleet / Divided, till in death they meet.
gloss: To flee, to escape, to speed away.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Gratiano:O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
And for thy life let justice be accused.
Thou almost makest me waver in my faith,
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
That souls of animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,
Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.
It began to be chill; the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more on her beam-ends.
gloss: To evanesce, disappear, die out.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Portia:How all other passions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair,
And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy!
O love, be moderate; allay thy ecstasy;
In measure rain thy joy; scant this excess!
I feel too much thy blessing; make it less,
For fear I surfeit!
gloss: To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.
pos: verb
examples: 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.
gloss: To move or change in position.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: We got the long "stick" [...] down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured.
gloss: To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
gloss: To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
pos: verb
gloss: To take the cream from; to skim.
pos: verb
gloss: Swift in motion; light and quick in going from place to place.
pos: adj
tags: literary
examples: 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...
gloss: Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.
pos: adj
tags: uncommon
examples: fleet Soil, and that 'tis mixed with a great quantity of Earth, Marle, Mud or Clay, &c.
Synonyms: fleet
Related words: weaponry
List of collective nouns on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Appendix:Glossary of collective nouns by collective term
Derived words: admiral of the fleet
airfleet
battle fleet
carfleet
dark fleet
fleet admiral
fleet captain
fleet carrier
fleetful
fleet in being
fleet landing
fleet leader
fleetmate
fleetname
fleet race
fleet racing
fleetside
fleet up
fleetwide
flog someone round the fleet
ghost fleet
interfleet
merchant fleet
mosquito fleet
nonfleet
shadow fleet
starfleet
subfleet
fleetfoot
fleetfooted
fleetly
fleetness
fleet of foot
Translations: