fleet English
Etymology 1
From (etyl)
Noun
( en noun)
A group of vessels or vehicles.
Any group of associated items.
* 2004 , Jim Hoskins, Building an on Demand Computing Environment with IBM
- This is especially true in distributed printing environments, where a fleet of printers is shared by users on a network.
(nautical) A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
(nautical, British Royal Navy) 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.
Etymology 2
From (etyl)
Noun
( en noun)
(obsolete) A flood; a creek or inlet, a bay or estuary, a river subject to the tide. cognate to Low German fleet
* Matthewes
- Together wove we nets to entrap the fish / In floods and sedgy fleets .
(nautical) A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.
Derived terms
* Fleet
* fleet in being
* Fleet Street
* merchant fleet
Etymology 3
From (etyl)
Verb
( en verb)
(obsolete) To float.
- [Antony] "Our sever'd navy too,
Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-like."'' -- Shakespeare, ''Antony and Cleopatra
To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of
- a ship that fleets the gulf
- (Spenser)
To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy
* Shakespeare
- Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly.
- And so through this dark world they fleet / Divided, till in death they meet;'' -- Percy Shelley, ''Rosalind and Helen .
(nautical) To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.
- (Totten)
(nautical, obsolete) 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
( en-adj)
(literary) Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble; fast.
* Milton
- In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong.
* 1908:
-
(uncommon) Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.
- (Mortimer)
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expeditiously English
Synonyms
* See also
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