fleet2
- swift; rapid: to be fleet of foot; a fleet horse.
- to move swiftly; fly.
- Nautical. to change position; shift.
- Archaic.
- to glide along like a stream.
- to fade; vanish.
- Obsolete. to float; drift; swim.
- to cause (time) to pass lightly or swiftly.
- Nautical.
- to move or change the position of.
- to separate the blocks of (a tackle).
- to lay (a rope) along a deck.
Origin of fleet2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for fleet on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for fleetly
Historical Examples
Fleetly David footed the stairs and returned with two soup plates.
David DunneBelle Kanaris Maniates
He espied the deep tracks of the elk and fleetly followed him.
Zui FetichesFrank Hamilton Cushing
Night that comes so fleetly in this country dropped like a veil.
Penny of Top Hill TrailBelle Kanaris Maniates
You may know, perhaps, how fleetly a taste like this dilates.
Alonzo Fitz and Other StoriesMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Scarcely an hour passed ere Trude returned as fleetly as she went.
Old Fritz and the New EraLouise Muhlbach
fleet1
- a number of warships organized as a tactical unit
- all the warships of a nation
- a number of aircraft, ships, buses, etc, operating together or under the same ownership
Word Origin
fleet2
- rapid in movement; swift
- poetic fleeting; transient
- (intr) to move rapidly
- (intr) archaic to fade away smoothly; glide
- (tr) nautical
- to change the position of (a hawser)
- to pass (a messenger or lead) to a hawser from a winch for hauling in
- to spread apart (the blocks of a tackle)
- (intr) obsolete to float or swim
- (tr) obsolete to cause (time) to pass rapidly
Word Origin
fleet3
- mainly Southeast English a small coastal inlet; creek
Word Origin
Fleet
- a stream that formerly ran into the Thames between Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street and is now a covered sewer
- Also called: Fleet Prison (formerly) a London prison, esp used for holding debtors
Word Origin and History for fleetly
fleet
adj.
"swift," 1520s, but probably older than the record; apparently from or cognate with Old Norse fliotr "swift," and from the root of fleet (v.)). Related: Fleetness.
fleet
v.
Old English fleotan "to float, drift, flow, swim, sail," later (c.1200) "to flow," from Proto-Germanic *fleut- (cf. Old Frisian fliata, Old Saxon fliotan "to flow," Old High German fliozzan "to float, flow," German flieszen "to flow," Old Norse fliota "to float, flow"), from PIE root *pleu- "to flow, run, swim" (see pluvial).
Meaning "to glide away like a stream, vanish imperceptibly" is from c.1200; hence "to fade, to vanish" (1570s). Related: Fleeted; fleeting.
fleet
n.
Old English fleot "ship, raft, floating vessel," from fleotan "to float" (see fleet (v.)). Sense of "naval force" is pre-1200. The Old English word also meant "creek, inlet, flow of water," especially one into the Thames near Ludgate Hill, which lent its name to Fleet Street (home of newspaper and magazine houses, standing for "the English press" since 1882), Fleet prison, etc.