(n. & a.) To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.
(n. & a.) To sail; to float.
(n. & a.) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser.
(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.) A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
(v. i.) Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.
(v. i.) Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble.
(v. i.) To take the cream from; to skim.
(v. t.) To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
(v. t.) To draw apart the blocks of; -- said of a tackle.
(v. t.) To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy.
(v. t.) To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf.