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Fleet   /flit/   Listen
noun
Fleet  n.  A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
Fleet captain, the senior aid of the admiral of a fleet, when a captain.


Fleet  n.  
1.
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."
2.
A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up).
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.


adjective
Fleet  adj.  (compar. fleeter; superl. fleetest)  
1.
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."
2.
Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil. (Prov. Eng.)


verb
Fleet  v. t.  
1.
To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf.
2.
To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy. "Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly."
3.
(Naut.)
(a)
To draw apart the blocks of; said of a tackle.
(b)
To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
4.
(Naut.) 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."


Fleet  v. t.  To take the cream from; to skim. (Prov. Eng.)


fleet  v. i.  (past & past part. fleeted; pres. part. fleeting)  
1.
To sail; to float. (Obs.) "And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet."
2.
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."
3.
(Naut.) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; said of a cable or hawser.
4.
(Naut.) To move or change in position; said of persons; as, the crew fleeted aft.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Fleet" Quotes from Famous Books



... Downs the fleet was moored, The streamers waving in the wind, When black-eyed Susan came on board: "Oh! where shall I my true love find? Tell me, ye jovial sailors, tell me true, If my sweet William sails ...
— Old Ballads • Various
... who, with his boatload of six-and-twenty desperadoes, ran boldly into the midst of the pearl fleet off the coast of South America, attacked the vice admiral under the very guns of two men-of-war, captured his ship, though she was armed with eight guns and manned with threescore men, and would have got her safely away, only that having to put on sail, their mainmast went by the board, ...
— Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates • Howard Pyle
... However, this camp life was not to last. Admiral Farragut wished to run his fleet past the batteries of Port Hudson so that we might intercept the Red River traffic and cooperate with General Grant at Vicksburg. Therefore he asked General Banks to make a demonstration behind the fortress. This movement was intended to divert the attention of the ...
— The Twenty-fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion • George P. Bissell
... being with them did not exceed ten weeks. Besides, it is now just twenty-seven years ago. I boarded the Equator while she was among the islands cruising for copra, and in due time we reached Apemama and dropped anchor in the lagoon near the king's boat fleet. Going on shore we found the party hale and much pleased with the ship's arrival. In the evening the king, a fat and clever native, paid a visit and entertained us by telling about his ancestors. On the mother's side they came from a shark, ...
— The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson • Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez
... government decided upon war on the side of the Allies. Millions of trained fighting men, fresh from the rigors of the recent Turkish war, were ready to take the field at almost a moment's notice. The reserves had already been ordered to the colors. The Italian fleet was ...
— The Boy Allies in Great Peril • Clair W. Hayes


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