Definition of fleet

• n. & a. - To sail; to float.
• n. & a. - To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.
• n. & a. - To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser.
• v. t. - To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf.
• v. t. - To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy.
• v. t. - To draw apart the blocks of; -- said of a tackle.
• v. t. - To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
• v. i. - Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble.
• v. i. - Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.
• v. i. - A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
• v. i. - A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; -- obsolete, except as a place name, -- as Fleet Street in London.
• v. i. - A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up).
• v. i. - To take the cream from; to skim.