fleet

1. 1

   A group of vessels or vehicles, generally operating in a unified way or traveling together.collective

   • A fleet of warships is heading this way.
   • merchant fleet, shadow fleet
2. 2

   A group of vessels or vehicles, generally operating in a unified way or traveling together.; The vehicles commercially owned by a person, company or agency.collective

   • She owns a fleet of private medical transport vans.
   • fleet car, fleet truck, fleet vehicle
3. 3

   A group of vessels or vehicles, generally operating in a unified way or traveling together.; A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; the vessels commanded by a single officer; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.collective

   • We must invest in our fleet for our national security.
4. 4

   A group of vessels or vehicles, generally operating in a unified way or traveling together.; 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.British-Royal-Navycollective

5. 5

   A large, coordinated group of people.collective

   • And after the past few days, in which a fleet of Republicans and the president himself have utilized Jews as human shields for racist rhetoric, the Jews are tired, tired, tired of being used as defenses against naked racism, tired of being
6. 6

   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.
7. 7

   Any group of associated items.; A street gang.Scotland

8. 8

   The individual waves in corrugated fiberboard.

syn. fleet

1. 1

   An arm of the sea; a run of water, such as an inlet or a creek.dialectal

   • Together wove we nets to entrap the fish In floods and sedgy fleets.
2. 2

   A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.

syn. fleet

1. 1

   To float.intransitiveobsolete

   • Legions of Spirits fleeting in the aire, Direct our Bullets and our weapons pointes […]
   • Antony: Our force by land / Hath nobly held; our sever'd navy too, / Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-like.
2. 2

   To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.ambitransitive

   • Long were to tell the troublous stormes, that tosse The private state, and make the life unsweet Who swelling sayles in Caspian sea doth crosse, And in frayle wood on Adrian gulf doth fleet
3. 3

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

   • And so through this dark world they fleet / Divided, till in death they meet.
4. 4

   To flee, to escape, to speed away.intransitive

   • It began to be chill; the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more on her beam-ends.
5. 5

   To evanesce, disappear, die out.intransitive

   • Portia:How all other passions fleet to air, As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair, And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! O love, be moderate; allay thy ecstasy; In measure rain thy joy; scant this excess! I feel too much t
6. 6

   To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.

   • To fleet tackle when pennant block is used, the keeper, with a strap and heaver, racks both parts of hawser together near pennant block, and the tackle is then overhauled and hooked by the men assigned to those duties.
7. 7

   To move or change in position.intransitive

   • We got the long "stick" [...] down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured.
8. 8

   To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.obsolete

9. 9

   To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.

10. 10

    To take the cream from; to skim.

1. 1

   Swift in motion; light and quick in going from place to place.literary

   • In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong.
   • […]it was not till the afternoon that they came out on the high-road, their first high-road; and there disaster, fleet and unforeseen, sprang out on them — disaster momentous indeed to their expedition[…]
2. 2

   Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.uncommon

   • fleet Soil, and that 'tis mixed with a great quantity of Earth, Marle, Mud or Clay, &c.

1. 1

   Obsolete form of flet (“house, floor, large room”).Yorkshirealt-ofobsolete

   • Fire and fleet and candle-lighte

syn. fleet