fleet

noun10

1. •
   a number of ships or vehicles that work under one control, often moving together

   • A fleet of warships is heading this way.
2. •
   The vehicles commercially owned by a person, company or agency.

   • She owns a fleet of private medical transport vans.
3. •
   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.

   • We must invest in our fleet for our national security.
4. •
   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.
5. •
   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. — 2004
6. •
   A large, coordinated group of people.
7. •
   (Scotland) A street gang.
8. •
   A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.
9. •
   (dialect) An arm of the sea; a run of water, such as an inlet or a creek.

   • a certain Flete [...] through which little Boats used to come to the aforesaid Town — 1723
10. •
    The individual waves in corrugated fiberboard.

verb10

1. •
   To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.

   • 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 — 1590
2. •
   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. — 1881
3. •
   To evanesce, disappear, die out.
4. •
   To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.
5. •
   To move or change in position.

   • We got the long "stick" [...] down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured. — 1898
6. •
   To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
7. •
   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. — 1817
8. •
   To take the cream from; to skim.
9. •
   (no longer used) To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.
10. •
    (no longer used) To float.

    • Legions of Spirits fleeting in the aire, Direct our Bullets and our weapons pointes […] — 1587

adjective2

1. •
   (literary) Swift in motion; light and quick in going from place to place.

   • In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong. — 1671
2. •
   Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.

   • fleet Soil, and that 'tis mixed with a great quantity of Earth, Marle, Mud or Clay, &c. — 1707

noun1

1. •
   A river, the Water of Fleet, in Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland.