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Flight vs Fleet - What's the difference?

flight | fleet |

In obsolete terms the difference between flight and fleet

is that flight is fast, swift while fleet is to float.

As a proper noun Fleet is

the stream that ran where Fleet Street now runs.

flight

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) flyht, from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch vlucht, German Flucht (etymology 2).

Noun

  • The act of flying.
  • Birds are capable of flight
  • An instance of flying.
  • The migrating birds' flight took them to Africa.
  • A collective term for doves or swallows.
  • A journey made by an aircraft, eg a balloon, plane or space shuttle, particularly one between two airports, which needs to be reserved in advance.
  • The flight to Paris leaves at 7 o'clock tonight
    Where is the departure gate for flight 747? / Go straight down and to the right.
  • The act of fleeing. (Flight'' is the noun which corresponds to the verb ''flee .)
  • take flight
    the flight of a refugee
  • A set of stairs or an escalator. A series of stairs between landings.
  • A floor which is reached by stairs or escalators.
  • How many flights is it up?
  • A feather on an arrow or dart used to help it follow an even path.
  • A paper plane.
  • (cricket) The movement of a spinning ball through the air - concerns its speed, trajectory and drift.
  • The ballistic trajectory of an arrow or other projectile.
  • An aerodynamic surface designed to guide such a projectile's trajectory.
  • An air force unit.
  • Several sample glasses of a specific wine varietal or other beverage. The pours are smaller than a full glass and the flight will generally include three to five different samples.
  • (engineering) The shaped material forming the thread of a screw.
  • Derived terms
    * direct flight * flight attendant * flight ceiling * flight data recorder * flight deck * flightiness * flightless * flight level * flight of fancy * flight path * flight recorder * flighty * in-flight, inflight * * maiden flight * midflight * overflight * preflight * spaceflight, space flight * take flight * time-of-flight * time-of-flight mass spectrometry * top-flight, topflight

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Fast, swift.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (cricket, of a spin bowler) To throw the ball in such a way that it has more airtime and more spin than usual.
  • See also

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), from (etyl) flyht, from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch vlucht and German Flucht (etymology 1).

    Noun

  • The act of fleeing.
  • 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)