fleet
//ˈfliːt//
Forms
- Plural
- fleets
- present (v1)
- fleet
- past (v2)
- fleeted
- past participle (v3)
- fleeted
- present participle
- fleeting
- 3rd person singular
- fleets
Definitions
1.A group of vessels or vehicles.
- It was planning to use an '807' for one day only as part of a shakedown test, ahead of the fleet's formal entry to service which is currently planned for November.
2.Any group of associated items.
- This is especially true in distributed printing environments, where a fleet of printers is shared by users on a network.
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.
1.To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.
2.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.
3.To flee, to escape, to speed away.
- It began to be chill; the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more on her beam-ends.
4.To evanesce, disappear, die out.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4762
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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”).