fleets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of fleet.

   Rival shipping lines expanded their fleets to compete for transatlantic trade.

   The airline merged the fleets of both carriers under a single maintenance program.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that carries every meaning of the noun with it. Most often it counts groups of ships, aircraft or vehicles under one owner or command, as when rival shipping lines expand their fleets. In packaging the word is small and literal: each wave in corrugated fiberboard is a fleet, so the ridges of a sheet are its fleets. In British Royal Navy usage, a fleet is a command larger than a squadron.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of fleet.

   Note

   It has the same spelling as the plural noun, but this form belongs to a verb of quick, light passing. It usually takes a word of direction, as in time fleets by or a cloud fleets over the moon. It can also take a direct object, meaning to skim across a surface. Sailors use it for working up a rope to haul better, or for drawing apart the blocks of a tackle. Its meaning "to float" is obsolete.

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