jets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of jet.

   Several private jets were parked along the runway.

   Thin jets of steam escaped from cracks in the old boiler.

   Note

   One plural covers every kind of jet the noun names: streams of liquid or gas, the nozzles that shape them, the aircraft, and engine parts down to the fuel jets of a carburetor. A following of usually signals the stream reading, as in jets of water or jets of steam. A modifier in front tends to point to the machine, as in private jets.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of jet.

   Steam jets from the valve whenever the pressure climbs too high.

   The executive jets between three continents in a single month.

   Note

   The -s form serves a verb that works both ways. It is intransitive when the liquid itself moves (steam jets from the valve) and transitive when someone sprays something (she jets the deck with a hose). The travel meaning is intransitive too and wants a place or route after it: jets between continents, jets off to Paris. An older strand sits alongside these, meaning to strut or to jut out.

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