fleet

Meaning

Noun

1. A group of vessels or vehicles.
2. Any group of associated items.
3. A large, coordinated group of people.
4. A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
5. 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.

Verb

1. (obsolete) To float.
2. To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.
3. To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.
4. To flee, to escape, to speed away.
5. To evanesce, disappear, die out.
6. To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.
7. To move or change in position.
8. (obsolete) To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.
9. To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
10. To take the cream from; to skim.

Adj

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

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fliːt/

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”).