# fleet

Pronunciation: say "FLEET" US /flit/, UK /fliːt/

## Noun

1. A group of vessels or vehicles operated together as a unit.
   - Simple: A group of cars, ships, or planes that one owner uses together.
   - _The airline expanded its fleet with a dozen new aircraft._
   - _A fleet of taxis waited outside the station._
2. A number of vessels in company, especially warships; also the entire naval force of a country.
   - Simple: A country's group of warships, or many warships sailing together.
   - _The admiral ordered the fleet to blockade the southern ports._
   - _Britain's fleet dominated the seas for much of the nineteenth century._
4. A group of associated items considered together as a single set.
   - Simple: A set of things that go together as one group.
   - _The data center operates a fleet of identical storage devices._
   - _Engineers deployed a fleet of weather stations across the valley._
5. A large group of people acting together in a coordinated way.
   - Simple: A big group of people working together in an organized way.
   - _A fleet of nurses was dispatched to the disaster zone._
   - _The campaign relied on a fleet of canvassers knocking on doors._
6. A body of ships under one command that is larger than a squadron; also, a rear admiral's command of five ships of the line plus smaller vessels in any number.
   - Simple: A group of warships larger than a squadron, under one senior commander.
   - _The rear admiral's fleet comprised five ships of the line and numerous escorts._
   - _Command of a fleet placed him above every squadron commander in the theater._
10. A spot on a navigable river or waterway where barges are made fast and secured.
   - Simple: A place on a river where barges are tied up and kept safe.
   - _Each evening the coal barges crowded into the fleet below the town._
   - _The bargeman steered toward the fleet where the other vessels lay tied up for the night._
17. One of the individual waves in the rippled middle layer of corrugated fiberboard.
   - Simple: One of the small ripples in the wavy middle layer of corrugated cardboard.
   - _A taller fleet makes the board stiffer but uses more paper._
   - _Finer fleets pack more arches into each inch and give a smoother surface for printing._
18. An arm of the sea; a creek, inlet, or run of water reaching inland through low ground. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: A small inlet, creek, or narrow stretch of seawater reaching inland.
   - _At low tide the fleet drained to a ribbon of mud between the reed beds._
   - _Small boats slipped up the fleets to reach the inland villages._

## Adjective

3. Fast and nimble in movement, covering ground quickly and with a light step. *(literary)*
   - Simple: Moving very fast and lightly.
   - _The fleet messenger reached the castle before nightfall._
   - _Her fleet steps barely seemed to touch the ground._

## Verb

7. To get away at speed, fleeing or escaping from something.
   - Simple: To run away quickly and escape.
   - _The outlaws fleet across the border before dawn breaks._
   - _We watched the startled herd fleet over the open plain._
8. To remove the cream from milk; to skim.
   - Simple: To take the cream off the top of milk.
   - _Dairymaids would fleet the fresh milk each morning before the cream soured._
   - _They fleet the cream and churn it into butter._
9. To pass rapidly over something; to skim its surface.
   - Simple: To move quickly over the top of something.
   - _His fingers fleet across the piano keys in the final passage._
   - _The searchlight fleeted over the rooftops without pausing._
12. To make time pass quickly and lightly, or to spend it in mirth and joy.
   - Simple: To pass time in a light, happy way so it goes by quickly.
   - _They fleeted the summer afternoons away in song and easy laughter._
   - _Friends who fleet their evenings together rarely notice the hour growing late._
13. To fade away, vanish, or gradually die out.
   - Simple: To slowly fade away until it is gone.
   - _The colors of the sunset fleeted into a dull, even gray._
   - _Old certainties tend to fleet once the people who held them are gone._
14. To move from one position to another, or to change position.
   - Simple: To move or shift from one position to another.
   - _As the vessel heeled, the unsecured gear began to fleet toward the low side._
   - _Crates fleeted along the hold each time the ship pitched into a wave._
15. To shift one's grip up a rope, or to draw apart the blocks of a tackle, in order to haul more effectively.
   - Simple: To move the blocks of a pulley apart so a rope can be pulled more easily.
   - _When the blocks came together, the bosun ordered the crew to fleet the purchase._
   - _They fleeted the tackle twice during the long lift of the spar._
16. To let a rope or chain slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass.
   - Simple: To let a rope or chain slide down the drum of a winch.
   - _As the turns rode up the drum, the mate told them to fleet the hawser down._
   - _They fleeted the cable down the capstan to keep the coils from jamming._

## Adjective

11. Shallow and thin; not penetrating deep, as with poor soil. *(rare)*
   - Simple: Shallow and thin, not going down very deep, like poor soil.
   - _Farmers complained that the fleet soil dried out after a single hot day._
   - _The fleet topsoil washed away with the first heavy rain._

## Verb

19. To float, or to be borne up on the surface of water. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To stay floating on the surface of water.
20. To shift the position of the dead-eyes when a ship's shrouds have become too long. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To move the blocks that hold a mast's ropes when those ropes become too long.
   - _When the lower rigging sagged, the mate ordered the men to fleet the dead-eyes afresh._
   - _Before the long passage, the crew fleeted the dead-eyes to set up the slackened shrouds._

## Noun

21. Obsolete form of flet. *(obsolete, Yorkshire)* — Obsolete form of flet (“house, floor, large room”).
   - Simple: Obsolete form of flet. An old spelling for a house, floor, or large room.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–6, 17** — From Middle English "flete" or "flet" (fleet), from Old English "flēot" (ship), likely related to Proto-West Germanic "*flotōn", from Proto-Germanic "*flutōną" (to float).
**Meanings 10, 18** — From Middle English "flete" (bay, gulf), from Old English "flēot" (a bay, gulf, arm of the sea, estuary, or river mouth), from Proto-Germanic "*fleutą". It is related to Dutch "vliet" (stream, creek) and German "Fleet" (watercourse, canal).
**Meanings 3, 7–9, 11–16, 19–20** — From Middle English "fleten" (float), from Old English "flēotan" (float), from Proto-West Germanic "*fleutan", from Proto-Germanic "*fleutaną".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fleet (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).