fleet adj : moving very fast; "fleet of foot"; "the fleet scurrying of squirrels"; "a swift current"; "swift flight of an arrow"; "a swift runner" [syn: swift]

1 group of aircraft operating together under the same ownership

2 group of motor vehicles operating together under the same ownership

3 a group of steamships operating together under the same ownership

4 a group of warships organized as a tactical unit

1 move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart [syn: flit, flutter, dart]

2 disappear gradually; "The pain eventually passed off" [syn: evanesce, fade, blow over, pass off, pass]

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːt

Etymology 1

From flet, flete, from fleot

Noun

1. A group of vessels or vehicles.
2. A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.

Translations

Etymology 2

From flet, flete, from fleotan

Noun

1. A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river.
2. A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.

Derived terms

• Fleet
• Fleet Street

Etymology 3

From fleten, from fleotan

Verb

1. To float.
2. To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of

   a ship that fleets the gulf

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

   And so through this dark world they fleet / Divided, till in death they meet; -- Percy Shelley, Rosalind and Helen.

4. To draw apart the blocks of; -- said of a tackle.
5. To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
6. To take the cream from; to skim.

Adjective

1. Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble; fast.
2. Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.

Fleet may refer to:

Places

"Fleet" is a geographical name:

• Fleet, a village in Dorset, England, sited on The Fleet, a lagoon
• Fleet, in the county of Hampshire, England
• a Fleet, in Kent, inlet, creek, a name for saline waterways in the Thames marshes
• the River Fleet, a subterranean river in London
  • Fleet Street, named after the river
  • Fleet Prison, named after the river
    • Fleet Marriages, named after the prison
• Fleet, in the county of Lincolnshire, England
• Gatehouse of Fleet a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, lying on the Water of Fleet
• Fleet, Highland, in the Scottish Highlands

Vehicles

A fleet is a collection of ships or vehicles, with many specific connotations:

• Fleet vehicles, two or more vehicles
• Naval fleet, a substantial group of ships
• Fishing fleet
• A group of small ships, also known as a flotilla
• Starfleet, the paramilitary defense, research, diplomacy, and exploration force in the fictional Star Trek universe

See List of fleets for a list of fleets

Surname

• Charles Browne Fleet
• David Fleet
• Ed Van Fleet
• Frederick Fleet
• James Fleet
• James Van Fleet
• Jo Van Fleet
• Preston Fleet
• Stephan Szpak-Fleet
• Stephen Fleet

Other uses

• Fleet Aircraft
• Fleet services, an English motorway service station
• FleetBoston Financial and its precursor Fleet Financial Group, financial institutions
• Fleet, a brand name of glycerin laxative suppository
• Ferry Fleet, a gang
• Inmarsat Fleet, a satellite communications service
• Fleet Farm, a store
• Fleet, a Post Rock and Electronica band from Japan
• Fleet Badminton Brand

Fleet used as a verb is also a colloquial expression used by fisherman to describe a vessel’s first movement when she drags her keel along the ground as the rising flood tide is just beginning to float her off.

See also

• The Fleet (disambiguation)

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