| 释义 |
▪ I. fleet, n.1|fliːt|
Forms; 1 fléot, 3 fleote, 4–6 flete, 6–7 fleete, 6– fleet.
[OE. fléot (? str. fem., as may be inferred from the early ME. form), recorded once in sense ‘ship, vessel’ (or collect. = means of sea-travel, boats or ships in general), f. fléotan fleet v. Cf. OE. flyte (? or flýte) ‘pontonium’ (ælfric Gloss.) from the same root.]
1. a. A sea force, or naval armament; in early use, a number of vessels carrying armed men, under a single command; in modern use, a number of ships armed and manned for war, each having its own commanding officer, under the orders of the admiral in chief, or of the flag-officer in command of a division. to go round or through the fleet: to be flogged on board each vessel in the fleet. fleet in being: a phrase first used by the Earl of Torrington after the engagement off Beachy Head in 1690 to describe a fleet which, though inferior to that of the enemy, is able to hamper his movements.
a1000Prayers (Gr.-Wülck.) iv. 100 Hwy ic ᵹebycᵹe bat on sæwe, fleot on faroðe. c1205Lay. 2155 Humber king & al his fleote, & his muchele scip ferde. c1325Coer de L. 1653 All redy they fonde ther her flete, Chargyd with armur. 1393Gower Conf. I. 197 That vessel..Which maister was of all the flete. c1440Promp. Parv. 166/2 Flete of schyppys yn þe see, classis. 1527R. Thorne His Booke in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 255 He armed a fleete. 1628Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 1 The straightes fleete..being gone 4 houres..when wee sett sayle. 1690Earl of Torrington Sp. to Ho. Comm. (1710) 29 Most Men were in fear that the French wou'd invade; but I was always of another Opinion,..for I always said, that whilst we had a Fleet in being, they wou'd not dare to make an Attempt. 1718Freethinker No. 60 ⁋7 They would not permit the Carthaginians to fit out any Fleets. 1841Marryat Poacher xxxix, They..for the double offence, would go through the fleet. Ibid., One of the marines..was to have gone round the fleet this morning. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) II. iv. ix. 427 A formidable armament..embarked on board a great fleet. 1898Kipling (title) A Fleet in Being. 1899McClure's Mag. Jan. 237/2 It is indeed as a threat to communications that the fleet in being is chiefly formidable. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 501/1 Of late years controversy has raged round this phrase, ‘a fleet in being’ and the strategic principle which it expresses. 1964D. Macintyre Battle for Mediterranean i. 31 A lack of desire on the part of the Italians to risk their fleet..is..probable, a policy which accorded with the theory of maintenance of a ‘fleet in being’.
b. the fleet: the navy.
1712Addison Spect. No. 500 ⁋3 Whether it be in the army or in the fleet, in trade, or in any of the three learned professions. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fleet, a general name given to the royal navy.
c. In wider sense: A number of ships or boats sailing in company.
1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 40 A Fleet of Pereagoes laden with Indian Corn..going to Cartagena. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. 338 The Brasil Ships come all in Fleets. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. I. i. 45 He immediately equipped a fleet to carry a colony of Portuguese to these islands. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop v, A fleet of barges were coming lazily on. 1865Cornh. Mag. Apr. 465 The whole ‘fleet’ [of colliers] as it is sometimes called, must anchor. 1884Stubbs' Mercantile Circular 27 Feb. 194/1 The total catch of mackerel by the New England fleet was 226,685 barrels.
d. Fleet Air Arm, the branch of the air force formed to operate with the fleet. (First formed 1923; came under the Admiralty's control in 1938.) Abbrev. F.A.A.
1923Rel. Navy & Air Force 2 in Parl. Papers (Cmd. 1938) XV. 827, 1. Navy and Air Force..Naval officers belonging to the Fleet Air Arm are therefore to be attached to the Air Service on the nomination of the Admiralty. 1933Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 337 The references made..to the activities of the Fleet Air arm were fully justified... It was surprising how tiny a speck on the ocean an aircraft carrier could appear when one had to return to it after a sea reconnaissance. 1939Navy List Sept. p. xiii, F.A.A.—Officers serving with or undergoing training in the Fleet Air Arm. 1940E. C. Shepherd Brit. Air Power 27 But for the Fleet Air Arm, which is exclusively controlled by the Admiralty, the whole of British Air Power is thus under the direction of a single staff—the Air Staff—and is commanded by R.A.F. 1953Times 21 May 8/2 The Admiralty has decided to reintroduce the term ‘Fleet Air Arm’ after a lapse of seven years, during which the air forces of the Royal Navy have been known officially as ‘Naval Aviation’.
2. transf. A number of persons, birds, or other objects moving or employed in company (now rare, exc. dial.); revived in the sense of: a number of vehicles or aircraft forming a definite group or ‘unit’.
The dial. use (quot. 1884), which has passed into sporting lang., may be a northern pronunc. of flight.
a1400–50Alexander 1196 (Dublin) To founde forth with a flete [Ashmole flote] of fyfe hundreth knyghtez. 1649Bp. Guthrie Mem. (1702) 67 As soon as Episcopacy had been thrust out of this Church, there came..from Ireland a fleet of Scottish People. 1675Crowne Country Wit ii. Dram. Wks. 1874 III. 53, I will convey you safe home with my fleet of lanthorns. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 311 A fleet of wild ducks had alighted. 1878Cumbld. Gloss. s.v., ‘Thou's cap't t'heall fleet o' them.’ 1881W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence x. 248 The fleet of the Avengers sweeps onward through the air. 1884Chesh. Gloss., Fleet, an assemblage of birds when they come to their feeding ground or roosting quarters. 1889Kansas Times & Star 7 May, A fleet of hacks was cruising around to take them to their..homes. 1905Daily Chron. 11 Sept. 5/6 At five o'clock, when the motor fleet drew up. 1908H. G. Wells War in Air iii. §5, A fleet of airships. 1911Chambers's Jrnl. 767/2 The vast sum of money..expended on..a single Dreadnought might better be devoted to creating a whole fleet of dirigibles and aeroplanes. 1915W. J. Locke Jaffery iii, Barbara has gone away with the Daimler,..and as I don't keep a fleet of cars, I had to choose between this and the donkey-cart. 1924F. J. Haskin Amer. Govt. (rev. ed.) 433 Large fleets of trucks and automobiles. 1967Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 8/1 A separate electrically powered fleet [of trains] will be cutting the time between Manhattan and Washington, D.C. 1971Guardian 22 Feb. 12/4 By accident I joined what drivers described as a company with one of the worst fleets of transport in the kingdom.
3. Fisheries. (See quots.)
1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 251 They [nets in drift-fishing] are fastened together end to end, and thus form what is called a train, fleet, or drift of nets. 1887Kent. Gloss. s.v., Every Folkestone herring-boat carries a fleet of nets, and sixty nets make a fleet. 1892Northumbld. Gloss., Fleet, a row of floating herring nets at sea attached to each other and to the fishing boat.
4. attrib., as fleet-action, fleet engineer, fleet-man, fleet regatta, fleet surgeon.
1901J. Blake How Sailors Fight iv. 91 As the first phase of a *fleet action the captains of the various warships meet together on the admiral's flagship. 1910Daily Chron. 17 Mar. 3/5 The fleet action of the future will..develop into an aggregation of duels between opposing battle units.
1901J. Blake How Sailors Fight ii. 44 A *fleet engineer is always on duty in South Wales, and it is his business to recommend to the Government the coal they shall include in their contracts.
1904Daily Chron. 1 Feb. 3/3 It will encourage straight shooting among the *fleetmen. 1905Ibid. 19 July 5/6 The magic personality of British fleetmen. 1909London Mag. Aug. 605/2 To cheer the fleetmen as they march through the streets.
1891Pall Mall G. 18 Nov. 5/2 The annual *fleet regatta.
1892Ibid. 30 Aug. 6/1 Dr. Irving was subsequently *fleet surgeon to Lord Wolseley in the Ashantee campaign.
▪ II. fleet, n.2 Now only local.|fliːt|
Forms: 1 fléot(e, 5–9 flete, 6–7 fleet(t)e, 6 flett, 9 flet, 6– fleet.
[OE. fléot str. masc. (also fléote wk. fem. or fléota wk. masc.), corresp. to OFr. flêt, MDu. vliet masc., neut. (mod.Du. vliet masc.), MLG. vlêt, MHG. vlieȥ (early mod.Ger. fliesz) masc., ON. fljót neut.; f. OTeut. *fleut-an: see fleet v.1]
1. a. A place where water flows; an arm of the sea; a creek, inlet, run of water.
c893K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §27 Ispania land is..eall mid fleote..ymbhæfd. c1440Promp. Parv. 166/2 Flete, there water cometh and goth, fleta. 1530Palsgr. 221/1 Flete where water cometh, breche. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxiii. 191 To the Sea..With Mosses, Fleets, and Fells, she showes most wild and rough. 1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 108 Cloth..Fulled with our Mills by the open fleet. 1703S. Dale in Phil. Trans. XXV. 1575/2 Certain remains of the old Channel, which the neighbouring Inhabitants still call Fleets. 1736J. Lewis Hist. Isle of Tenet (ed. 2) 78 A certain Flete..through which little Boats used to come to the aforesaid Town. 1827Sporting Mag. XXI. 115 Nests formed amongst the reeds, by the side of the Fleets. 1891A. J. Foster Ouse 214 Several narrow creeks running into the heart of the town [King's Lynn]..are called ‘fleets’.
b. (from the use of creeks in drainage; see supra 1891): A drain, a sewer. Obs. exc. dial.
1583Sewers Inquisition 8 (E.D.S.) A new and sufficient head like unto Stockwith new fleet shall [be] made and lade there. 1773Burstwick Inclos. Act 22 The fleet or sewer. 1877N. W. Linc. Gloss., Fleet, a kind of drain.
c. Comb.: fleet-dyke, -hole (see quots.).
1839Stonehouse Axholme 263 The west channel would then naturally warp up, and leave what is usually termed in such cases a fleet hole. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Fleet-dyke, an embankment for preventing inundation. 1877N. W. Linc. Gloss., Fleet-hole, a hole or hollow left by a drain having been diverted, or a bank having broken, and washed away the soil.
2. a. the Fleet: a run of water, flowing into the Thames between Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street, now a covered sewer; called also Fleet ditch; hence, the prison which stood near it.
1530Palsgr. 201/1 Flete a prisone for gentylmen, consergerie. 1563–83Foxe A. & M. 1191/2 Grafton was sent to the Fleet. 1613Letter in Burn Fleet Registers (1833) 5 An ancyentt acquayntance of y's and myne is yesterday maryed in the Fleette. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull ii. iv, Before the next [term] we shall have him in the Fleet. 1761A. Murphy (title), Ode to the Naiads of Fleet-ditch. 1837Dickens Pickw. xl, Mr. Pickwick alighted at the gate of the Fleet.
b. attrib.: Fleet books, the records of the marriages celebrated in the Fleet Prison. Fleet chapel, the place where the marriage ceremonies were performed. Fleet marriage, one performed clandestinely by a Fleet parson in the Fleet; also Fleet-Street marriage. Fleet parson, one of a number of disreputable clergymen who were to be found in and about the Fleet ready to perform clandestine marriages. Fleet register = Fleet book. Fleet Street, a street in London devoted largely to the production and publication of daily newspapers and periodical journals; hence allusively, the national newspapers generally, the journalistic press, journalism. So Fleet Streeter.
1719Original Weekly Jrnl. 26 Sept. in Burn Fleet Registers (1833) 7 Mrs. Ann Leigh..having been decoyed..and married at the Fleet Chapel. 1732Grub Street Jrnl. 20 July (ibid.), A Fleet parson was convicted..of forty-three oaths. 1736Ibid. 6 This advice cannot be taken by those that are concerned in y⊇ Fleet marriages. c1747Ibid. (title), A Fleet Wedding. 1833Burn Fleet Registers 5 The Fleet Registers..commence about the period of the Order of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 1861Cornh. Mag. June 688 A worthy woman whose daughter had been entrapped into a Fleet-Street marriage. 1882C. Pebody Eng. Journalism ii. 19 Fleet Street to-day, with its energy, enterprise, and intelligence, is a characteristic representation of the whole spirit of the English Press. 1893Farmer & Henley Slang III. 19/2 Fleet-Street, the estate of journalism. Ibid., Fleet-Streeter, a journalist of the baser sort. 1904J. R. Robinson 50 Yrs. Fleet St. 236 The passion for letter-writing to newspapers is recognised in Fleet Street as a distinct form of mental aberration. 1905H. Leach Fleet St. 87 A faculty for quick and perfect condensation is one of the most valuable possessions of the Fleet Street man. Ibid. 143 Fleet Street has its particular specialists for several of the courts of law. Ibid. 189 Their [sc. editors'] differences show how impossible it is for Fleet Street to tell what the morrow will bring forth for it. 1920[see Downing Street]. 1927Scots Observer 12 Mar. 11/3 Shabbiness and flyblownness represent a Fleet Street tradition that has been broken. 1962John o'London's 22 Feb. 177/3 The event is a natural for the copy-starved Fleet Streeters. 1969Times 10 Dec. 11/4 The underminers in Fleet Street: voilà l'ennemi.
▪ III. fleet, n.3
1829Trial of J. Martin 34, I saw the rope hanging from the window west of the Five Sisters window in the North transept. It was fastened to the fleet..the machine for cleaning the Minster.
▪ IV. fleet, n.4 Fishing.|fliːt|
[? f. fleet v.1 in sense ‘to float’.]
(See quots.) Cf. fleet n.1 3. Also, fleet-line.
1880Antrim & Down Gloss., Fleet-line (float-line), a line used in a particular kind of sea-fishing; the hook floats mid-way between the surface and bottom. 1891Cent. Dict., Fleet, in fishing, a single line of 100 hooks: so called when the bultow was introduced in Newfoundland (1846).
▪ V. fleet, a.1|fliːt|
Also 6 flete. Cf. flit a.
[Not found before 16th c., but prob. much older; cogn. with or a. ON. fliótr swift; f. root of fleet v.1]
1. Characterized by power of swift onward movement; swift, nimble. Said primarily of living beings, their limbs and movements; hence of things viewed as self-moving, thoughts, etc. Not in colloquial use.
a1529Skelton Replyc. 50 Your tonges were to flete. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 35 The fleetest fish swalloweth the delicatest bait. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 261 Their conceites haue winges, Fleeter than arrowes, bullets, wind, thought, swifter thinges. 1596― Tam. Shr. Induct. i. 26 If Eccho were as fleete, I would esteeme him worth a dozen such. 1671Milton P.R. iii. 313 Thir horses..fleet and strong. 1752Chesterfield Lett. III. cclxxix. 281 In the situation of a man who should be very fleet of one leg, but very lame of the other. 1781Cowper A. Selkirk 41 How fleet is a glance of the mind! 1810Scott Lady of L. iii. v, Fleet limbs that mocked at time. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 126 The antelope is supposed to be the fleetest quadruped on earth. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xiv. 377 A messenger..who had sped with a pace fleeter even than that of his own march.
2. Evanescent, shifting, passing away; not durable or lasting. poet.
1812H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Cui Bono v, This goodly pile..Perchance than Holland's edifice more fleet. 1877Bryant Poems, The Poet iv, Seize the great thought..And bind, in words, the fleet emotion fast.
3. quasi-adv. Quickly, swiftly. poet.
1587M. Grove Pelops & Hipp. (1878) 82 When a man doth meete With such as stand more than his match, his winning goes to fleete. 1790A. Wilson Thunderstorm Poet. Wks. (1846) 33 Fleet fled the shades of night. 1878Stevenson Int. Voy. 103 A thicket of willows..under which the river ran flush and fleet.
4. attrib. and Comb., as fleet-feathered adj.; fleet-foot a., poet. = next; also absol.; fleet-footed a., fleet of foot, swift in movement; also fig.; fleet-hound, ? a greyhound; in later use (see quot. 1888); fleet-winged a., having fleet wings, swift of flight.
1862–63G. M. Hopkins Poems (1948) 177 Divinity of air, *fleet-feather'd gales.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 561 As the *fleet-foot Roe that's tyr'd with chasing. 1865Swinburne Atalanta 6 Fleeter of foot than the fleet-foot kid. 1940C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Georg. iv. 88 Arethusa the fleetfoot, her arrows at last laid by.
a1743Savage To Bessy, C'Tess Rochford Wks. 1775 II. 165 Tho' fate, *fleet-footed, scents thy languid son. 1791Cowper Odyss. ii. 13 His hounds Fleet-footed follow'd him. 1832Longfellow Coplas de Manrique lii, Fleet-footed is the approach of woe.
1675Lond. Gaz. No. 1037/4 An old white *fleet-hound Bitch. 1680Ibid. No. 1550/4 A Brown spotted Foxhound Bitch..a sharp long Red Head, like a Fleet Hound. 1888H. Dalziel Brit. Dogs (ed. 2) I. ii. 47 The Deerhound..is also named the Rough Greyhound, and the Northern, or Fleet-hound.
1593Shakes. Lucr. 1216 *Fleet-wing'd duetie with thoghts feathers flies. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid iv. 180 Fleet-winged, speedy of foot, a colossal monster and dread.
▪ VI. fleet, a.2 Chiefly dial.|fliːt|
Also 7 flat, 7–9 flet, (8 flit).
[f. ME. flet, pa. pple. of fleet v.2 Cf. fleeten, flatten, flotten.]
Of milk: Skimmed. Also fleet cheese, cheese made of skimmed milk.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 517 In Elsatia..they fat them [Hogs] with..Barly-meal wet with flat milk. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 335/1 Dairy People..make..Flet and unflet Milk Cheese. 1741Compl. Fam. Piece iii. 498 Whey, flit Milk, Wash, Grains. 1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 230 The milk..stands forty-eight hours before the flet-milk is run off. 1823Moor Suff. Words, s.v. Flet, Cheese made of this milk [flet-milk] is called Flet-cheese. 1882Lanc. Gloss., Flet-milk.
▪ VII. fleet, a.3 Now chiefly dial. and Agric.|fliːt|
[Perh. repr. OE. *fléat, corresponding to Du. vloot shallow (:—*flauto-), f. root of fleet v.1]
1. Having little depth; shallow.
1621Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 9 Hazard no more To wrack your fortunes on so fleet a shore. 1647Trapp Comm. Matt. xv. 8 The deeper..the belly of the lute..is, the pleasanter is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating..in our ears. 1767A. Young Farmer's Lett. to People 120 Plough a very fleet furrow. 1802W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 407 The milk-trays..should be fleet. 1842Longfellow Sp. Stud. iii. vi, To pass through the dewy grass, And waters wide and fleet. 1882Blackw. Mag. Jan. 104 Where the water is fleet and weedy.
b. (That is) at no great depth; near the surface; esp. quasi-adv. in to plough fleet or sow fleet.
1633Rogers Treat. Sacraments i. 160 The root is so..fleet, that it will scarce furnish the tree with leaves. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 185 Sometimes we find Gold..as fleet as the roots of shrubs in Peru. 1707Mortimer Husb. ii. 80 Those Lands must be ploughed fleet. 1803Sir. J. Sinclair in Annals Agric. XL. 322 ‘Fallow deep, but sow fleet.’ 1845Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. ii. 326 The land is ploughed ‘fleet’, or about 3½ inches deep. 1876Surrey Gloss. s.v., To plough fleet is to skim-plough land.
†2. Having little depth of soil; ‘light, superficially fruitful’ (J.). Obs.—1
1707Mortimer Husb. ii. 80 Marle Cope-ground, which is commonly a cold, stiff, wet Clay..unless..where it is very fleet for Pasture.
Hence ˈfleetly adv., with little depth; shallowly.
1844Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 19 Sown upon the surface or drilled fleetly.
▪ VIII. fleet, v.1|fliːt|
Forms: inf. 1 fléotan, (3rd pers. pres. tense. flýt), 3–4 fleoten, (3 south. vleoten, wleoten), 3 fleote, 3–6 flet(e(n, 4–7 fleete, Sc. fleit, 4– fleet. pa. tense 1 fléat, 3 Orm. flæt, 4 fleet, flote, 3–6 flet, pl. 1 fluton, 3 fluten, floten; weak forms 4 fletide, 4–6 flette, 6 Sc. fletit, fletted, 7 fle(e)ted. pa. pple. 1, 4 floten (see flotten).
[A Com. Teut. originally str. vb.; OE. fléotan (fléat, fluton, floten) to float, corresp. to OFris. fliata, OS. fliotan (MDu., Du. vlieten) to flow, OHG. flioȥȥan to float, flow (MHG. vlieȥen, mod.Ger. flieszen to flow), ON. flióta (Sw. flyta, Da. fl0de) to float, flow (not recorded in Goth.):—OTeut. *fleutan (flaut, flutum, flotono-), f. pre-Teut. root *pleud-, ploud-, plud- (cf. Lettish pludêt to float, pludi flood, Lith. plústi to float away, plūdīs float of a fishing-net), an extended form of the OAryan root *pleu-, plu- (cf. Gr. πλέειν to sail, Skr. plu, pru to swim, float, flow, L. pluĕre to rain.]
I. To float.
1. intr. To rest upon the surface of a liquid; to be buoyed up; opposed to sink. Obs. exc. dial.
c1000ælfric Hom. (Th.) II. 564 Aᵹeot ele uppon wæter oððe on oðrum wætan, se ele flyt bufon. c1205Lay. 21327 Heore scalen wleoteð, swulc gold-faᵹe sceldes. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1025 Lay þer-on [the Dead Sea] a lump of led & hit on loft fletez. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxi. (1495) 451 An egge fletyth in salte water and synkyth downe in fresshe water. 1460–70Bk. Quintessence 9 A liquor of oyle fletynge aboue in maner of a skyn. c1470Harding Chron. ccxvi. iv, The bodies flete amonge our shippes. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. cci. 142 A water herbe which fleeteth upon the water. 1641French Distill. v. (1651) 127 The Oil doth naturally fleet above. 1836W. D. Cooper Sussex Gloss., The tide comes in and the vessels fleet.
†b. hyperbolically. To ‘swim’ in blood, tears; to be ‘bathed’ in (happiness, etc.). Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 261 Heueden, (þat were of ysmyte,) Flete in blode. a1500Chaucer's Dreme 1962 Fleting they were in swich wele As folk that wolde in no wise Desire more perfit paradise. 1508Dunbar Gold Targe 70 Tullius, quhois lippis suete Off rethorike did in to termes flete. a1605Montgomerie Misc. P. xxxv. 8 That..My pen in rhetoric may fleit. c1611Chapman Iliad xix. 204 My friend being dead..Lies in the entry of my tent, and in the tears doth fleet Of his associates.
†c. Of a vessel: To be or get afloat; to sail.
Beowulf (Th.) 3822 Sægenga for, Fleat famiᵹheals forþ ofer yðe. c1205Lay. 32033 Alle þa scipen þa bi þare sæ fluten. a1547Surrey Aeneid iv. 525 Now fleetes the talowed kele. 1633T. James Voy. 82 Our Ship did not fleet.
†2. intr. To drift or be carried by the current or tide on the surface of the water. Obs.
c897ælfred Gregory's Past. lviii. 445 Ðæt scip..sceal fleotan mid ðy streame. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3187 Moyses it [an gold gad] folwede ðider it flet. a1305Life Pilate 251 in E.E.P. (1862) 118 Þat bodie flet vp and doun. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 421 Þe arc..flote forthe with þe flyt of þe felle wyndez. 1375Barbour Bruce iii. 630 The thingis that thar fletand war Thai tuk. 1501Douglas Pal. Hon. iii 89 Part drownit, part to the Roche fleit or swam. 1590Marlowe 2nd. Pt. Tamburl. i. i. Sailors..Shall meet those Christians, fleeting with the tide.
†3. transf. Of mists, clouds, spirits, an odour: To float (in air, etc.); to drift. Obs.
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 46 A fayre reflayr ȝet fro hit flot. 1528Lyndesay Dreme 223 Quhow that thay [spirits] lay, in to tha flammis fletyng. a1623W. Pemble Zachary (1629) 164 Thin Clouds, fleeting under the thicker and heavier. 1744J. Claridge's Sheph. Banbury's Rules 9 Exhalations which while they fleet near the earth are stiled mists.
†4. To swim: said of fish, occas. of other animals and men. Obs.
Beowulf (Th.) 1089 No he fram me flodyðum feor fleotan meahte. c1205Lay. 22010 What letteð þene fisc to uleoten to þan oðere. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 387 Þe wylde of þe wode on þe water flette. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 44 Þe fisshe hath fyn to flete with. c1470Henry Wallace vii. 847 The Irland folk..On craggis clam, and sum in wattir flett. a1547Surrey Aeneid ii. 257 By the calme seas come fletyng adders twaine. a1600Complaint vi. in Ramsay's Evergreen I. 110 Leander on a stormy Nicht Diet fleitand on the Billous gray.
†5. Of a person: To be afloat (in a vessel); to journey or travel by water; to sail. Also with in. Obs.
c1205Lay. 28960 Forð flet mid vðe, folc vnimete. c1320Sir Tristr. 365 Þe mariners flet on flode. c1386Chaucer Man of Law's T. 365 Yeres and dayes flette this creature Thurghout the see of Grece. c1460Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 31 Apon this flood have we flett many day. 1563B. Googe Eglogs viii. (Arb.) 66 Through the Chanell deepe..he fleets a pace. 1688S. Sewall Diary 14 Aug. (1882) I. 223 They..lay aground a pretty while before they could fleet in. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 319 They might fleet down this river.
†6. To move unsteadily, as a floating object; to shift or sway (to and fro, etc.); to fluctuate, waver. Both of material and immaterial things. Obs.
In 16–17th c. sometimes adopted to render the like-sounding L. fluitare.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. vi. 28 Wenest þou þat þise mutaciouns of fortune fleten wiþ outen gouernour. 15..Ragman Roll 20 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 70 She changyth euer, and fletyth to and fro. 1571Golding Calvin on Ps. xxv. 15 Those that by fleeting to and fro forge sundry wayes to save themselves. 1597Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 58 Can Euphues conuince me of fleeting, seeing for his sake I break my fidelitie. 1581Savile Tacitus' Hist. iii. xxvii. (1591) 130 Those..who rowled down huge stones..forced the frame to stagger and fleete. 1638Sir. T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 6 Shadowlesse when Sol is Zenith, from which point when it fleets either North or South [etc.].
II. To flow (and derived senses).
†7. Of liquid, esp. water, a river: To flow. Obs.
c1200Ormin 18093 Se waterrstræm Aȝȝ fletteþþ forþ & erneþþ Towarrd te sæ. c1400Destr. Troy 1609 The water went vnder houses..And clensit by course all þe clene Cite Of filth and of feum, throughe fletyng by nethe. c1425Festivals of the Church 177 in Leg. Rood (1871) 261 Till fele teres gan flete. 1586J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 2/1 The riuer of the Surie..fleeteth by the citie of Waterford. 1595Spenser Col. Clout 596 Her words were like a streame of honny fleeting. 1610W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. v. 10 Waters, which flit and fleete to and fro with wind-catches. c1630in Risdon Surv. Devon §225 (1810) 238 Still gliding forth, altho' it fleet full slow.
†b. transf. Of a multitude of persons: To ‘stream’. Obs.
1596Dalyrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 403 Cumis flowing and fleeting vnto thame troupis of the commoun peple. 1638in Maidment Sc. Pasquils (1868) 29 Huge troups from quarters came fleeting.
†8. To overflow, abound. Const. with. (Cf. ‘flowing with milk and honey’). Obs. [So ON. flióta: see Fritzner s.v.]
c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. metr. ii. 8 Who makeþ þat plenteuouse autumpne in fulle ȝeres fletiþ wiþ heuy grapes. Ibid. iv. pr. vii. 146 Ne hast [þou] nat comen to fleten wiþ delices. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 1093 With fantasyes my wyt dothe flete.
†b. trans. To overrun, flood, fill abundantly. Obs. rare—1.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 685 So folk schal falle fro, to flete alle þe worlde.
9. intr.
†a. To dissolve or waste away; to become disintegrated, fall to pieces. Obs.
1382Wyclif 1 Macc. ix. 7 Judas sawȝ for his oost flette [1388 fleet (L. defluxit)] awey. c1420Pallad. on Husb. xii. 211 Yit pulle hem [plommes] rather then thai flete atwynne. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 36 Leather scarcely halfe tanned..within two or three daies wearing (especially if it come in any weat) wil..fleete and run abroad like a dish clout. 1598W. Phillips Linschoten (1864) 192 The bankes of sand doe fleet and vade away out of the Riuer. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 312 Leather, thus leisurely tanned..will prove serviceable, which otherwise will quickly fleet and rag out.
b. Of immaterial things: To fade or vanish, die out. Also with away. Obs. or arch. (blending with sense 10).
1576Newton Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 192 No stampe, forme, or print, but such as presently fleeteth, and immediately vanisheth. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 108 How all the other passions fleet to ayre. 1616B. Jonson Poetaster Apol., What they write 'gainst me Shall like a figure, drawn in water, fleet. 1787F. Burney Diary 26 Feb., Mr. Turbulent's compassion..fleeted away from the diversion of this recital. 1846Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 59 The deeds we do, the words we say, Into still air they seem to fleet.
10. To glide away like a stream; to slip away, change position imperceptibly or stealthily; hence in wider sense, to flit, migrate, remove, vanish. Also with away. Now only arch. of immaterial things, and with mixture of sense 11.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 177 Alle woreld þing ben fleted alse water erninde. c1340Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 714 Mony klyf he ouer-clambe in contrayez straunge, Fer floten fro his frendez fremedly he rydez. 1388Wyclif Exod. xxxix. 19 Lest tho [ryngis] weren loose and fletiden doun. 1563Golding Cæsar iv. (1565) 95 b, The Sycambres had..fleeted out of theyr country. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. vi. iii. (1622) 126 But Rubrius Fabatus..fleeting to the Parthians, and brought backe..by a Centurion, had keepers appointed him. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 457 All th' unaccomplisht works of Natures hand,..Dissolv'd on earth, fleet hither. a1730Fenton Poems 14 The wand'ring ghosts..Fleet sullen to the shades. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 48 The cares of boyhood fleet away. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets iii. 75 The wealth that the gods give lasts, and fleets not away.
b. Of the soul: To pass away from the body; hence said of a dying man.
1590Marlowe Edw. II, iv. vi, Our souls are fleeting hence. 1622Fletcher Span. Cur. iv. v, Bar. I am sorry..To find ye in so week a state. Die. I am fleeting, Sir. 1713Steele Guardian No. 18 ⁋5 You teach that souls..fleeting hence to other regions stray.
c. Of time: To pass rapidly and imperceptibly; to slip away. With mixture of the sense of fleet a.1
a1541Wyatt Poet. Wks. (1861) 11 My pleasant days they fleet and pass. 1621Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. iii. i. 149 Six hundred yeares being fleeted away since. 1718Prior Poems 297 The busie Moments..That fleet between the Cradle and the Grave. 1818Coleridge Method in Encycl. Metrop. (1849) 5 He organizes the hours..the very essence of which is to fleet, and to have been. 1875Farrar Silence & V. xi. 195 Time may fleet, and youth may fade.
d. trans. To pass, while away (time); also, to fleet it. rare.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 124 Many yong Gentlemen..fleet the time carelesly. 1858Lewes Sea-side. Stud. 396 Fleeting the quiet hour in observation of his pets. 1891Sat. Rev. 8 Aug. 151/1 They read the Coinage Bill a third time, and so fleeted it goldenly..till one o'clock a.m.
11. intr. To move swiftly; to flit, fly. Also with away. Cf. fleet a.1
c1340Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1566 So felle flonez þer flete, when þe folk gedered. 1703Rowe Fair Penit. v. i. 1885 Whether thro' the upper Air we fleet. 1801Lusignan IV. 218 He fleeted across the plain. 1818Hogg in Blackw. Mag. IV. 76 Yon little cloud..That..fleets away Beyond the very springs of day. 1836T. Hook G. Gurney III. 325 The thought had scarcely fleeted through my brain. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. i. (1858) 67 Sheets of sand fleeting along the surface of the Desert.
III. 12. Naut. trans. To change the position of, shift (a block, rope, etc.). Also absol. [Substituted for the earlier flit, owing prob. to association with sense 10 above.]
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Y b, To fleet or replace it, in a proper state of action..The man who performs this office..calls out, fleet jigger! 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 107 To fleet blocks is to bring them as close together as possible. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fleeting, the act of changing the situation of a tackle when the blocks are drawn together; also, changing the position of the dead-eyes, when the shrouds are become too long..Fleet ho! the order given at such times. Ibid., Fleet the messenger, when about to weigh, to shift the eyes of the messenger past the capstan for the heavy heave. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 61 Fleet the purchase down to the water's edge.
Hence ˈfleeted ppl. a.
1810Shelley Zastrozzi vii. Pr. Wks. 1888 I. 47 Matilda..succeeded in recalling to life Verezzi's fleeted faculties.
▪ IX. fleet, v.2 Obs. exc. dial.|fliːt|
Forms: 5 fletyn, 6–7 flet(e, 6, 9 dial. flit, 6– fleet; pa. pple. 5 flet.
[The precise formation is somewhat uncertain; prob. f. OE. flét cream, f. root of fléotan fleet v.1; cf. Sw. dial. flöta, MDa. flöde (mod. af-flöde) of equivalent etymology. But as the Du. vlieten (= fleet v.1) occurs in this sense, the Eng. vb. may possibly be a use of fleet v.1]
1. trans. To take off that which floats upon the surface of a liquid; esp. to skim (milk, the cream from milk). Also with compl.
c1440Promp. Parv. 166/2 Flet, as mylke or oþer lyke, despumatus. Ibid. 167/1 Fletyn, or skomyn ale, or pottys, or oþer lycoure that hovythe, despumo. 1530Palsgr. 551/2 Let us go flete this mylke agaynst she come to make her butter. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 146 b, The creame that swims aloft, is fletted off. 1601Holland Pliny II. 388 The fat which is fleeted or skimmed from the broth wherin dormice and rats be sodden. 1615Markham Eng. Housew. ii. ii. (1668) 78 Boyl it..ever and anon fleeting it clean. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Milk, You ought to fleet it [milk] by the Heat of warm Water. a1796Vancouver in A. Young Ess. Agric. (1813) II. 285 The milk of which cows..after standing 24 hours, is fleeted. 1836W. D. Cooper Sussex Gloss., Fleet or Flit, to skim milk.
b. transf. and fig.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 336 It is he..that will fleete all the fat from thy beard. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. cxcvi. 1221 Wee shall not occupie the trade of marchandice by sea, we shall not flit off the fatte thereof. 1632Quarles Div. Fancies ii. xxviii. (1660) 60 We Fleet the Mornings for our own design. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 4 Let us fleet the cream of a few of the primest libraries in all ages.
2. ‘To Fleate. To skim fresh water off the sea, as practised at the mouths of the Rhone, the Nile, &c.’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
Hence ˈfleeted ppl. a.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Laict esburré, fleeted milke. 1583― Campo di Fior 161 Upon fishe-dayes, fleeted milke. 1611Cotgr., Escremé, vncreamed, fleeted, as milk.
▪ X. fleet, v.3|fliːt|
[? f. fleet n.1 sense 3.]
intr. ? To fish with a ‘fleet’.
1630in Descr. Thames (1758) 78 No Peter-man..shall fleet for Flounders with any Rug-Net in the Night-time.
▪ XI. fleet
dial. f. of flight; Sc. var. of flute.
▪ XII. fleet(e
var. or dial. form of flet n. and v. |