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) ‘pontoninm’ (Ælfric, Gloss.) from the same root.]
1. 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.
a. 1000. Prayers (Gr.-Wülck.), iv. 99.
| Hwy ic ȝebycȝe bat on sæwe, | |
| fleot on faroðe. |
c. 1205. Lay., 2155.
| Humber king & al his fleote, | |
| & his muchele scip ferde. |
c. 1325. Coer de L., 1653.
| All redy they fonde ther her flete, | |
| Chargyd with armur, and drynk and mete. |
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 197.
| And hath that vessel under gete | |
| Which maister was of all the flete. |
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 166/2. Flete of schyppys yn þe see, classis.
1527. R. Thorne, His Booke, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 255. So he armed a fleete, and in the yeere 1497 were discouered the Islands of Calicut, from whence is brought all the spice he hath.
1628. Digby, Voy. Medit. (1868), 1. The rest of the straightes fleete and men of warre being gone 4 houres before vs, and then out of sight when wee sett sayle.
1718. Free-Thinker, No. 60, 17 Oct., ¶ 7. They would not permit the Carthaginians to fit out any Fleets.
1841. Marryat, Poacher, xxxix. They would be tried by a court-martial, and, without doubt, for the double offence, would go through the fleet. Ibid. Only rid of a blackguard not worth hanging; one of the marines, who was to have gone round the fleet this morning, when he went to the fore part of the ship under the sentry’s charge, leaped overboard, and drowned himself.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), II. IV. ix. 427. A formidable armament was embarked on board a great fleet, under the command of Manes, one of his bravest and most experienced generals.
b. The fleet: the navy.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 500, 3 Oct., ¶ 3. I think I have a fair Chance, that one or other of them may grow considerable in some or other way of Life, whether it be in the Army, or in the Fleet, in Trade, or in any of the three learned Professions.
1867. Smyth, 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.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. 40. After this we went to other Keys, to the Eastward of these, to meet Captain Wright and Captain Yanky, who met with a Fleet of Pereagoes laden with Indian Corn, Hog, and Fowls, going to Cartagene; being convoyed by a small Armadilly of 2 Guns and 6 Patereroes.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. 338. As the Brasil Ships come all in Fleets, the same Ships which brought my Letters, brought my Goods.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer. (1778), I. I. 45. As it was Henry’s chief object to render his discoveries useful to his country, he immediately equipped a fleet to carry a colony of Portuguese to these islands.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, v. A fleet of barges were coming lazily on, some sideways, some head first, some stern first; all in a wrong-headed, dogged, obstinate way, bumping up against the larger craft, running under the bows of steamboats, getting into every kind of nook and corner where they had no business, and being crunched on all sides like so many walnut-shells; while each, with its pair of long sweeps struggling and splashing in the water, looked like some lumbering fish in pain.
1865. Cornh. Mag., XI. April, 465. The wind dies away, the ebb-tide is running fast, and the whole ‘fleet’ [of colliers], as it is sometimes called, must anchor.
1883. Stubbs’ Mercantile Circular, 27 Feb., 194/1. The total catch of mackerel by the New England fleet was 226,685 barrels.
2. transf. A number of persons, birds, or other objects moving or employed in company. Now rare, exc. dial.
The dial. use (quot. 1884), which has passed into sporting lang., may be a northern pronunc. of FLIGHT.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1196 (Dublin). To founde forth with a flete [Ashmole, flote] · of fyfe hundreth knyghtez.
1649. Bp. Guthry, Mem. (1702), 67. As soon as Episcopacy had been thrust out of this Church, there came … from Ireland a fleet of Scottish People, who being dissatisfy’d with the Forms of that Church, had long ago forsaken the publick Assemblies thereof, and betaken themselves to Conventicles.
1675. Crowne, Country Wit, II., Dram. Wks. 1874, III. 53. I will convey you safe home with my fleet of lanthorns, and let’s be merry as we go.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXV. March, 311/1. A fleet of wild ducks had alighted below the net, and on the flowing of the tide they were carried, from the contraction of the channel, with great impetuosity by the water into the net, got entangled, and were drowned.
1878. Cumberld. Gloss., s.v. ‘Thou’s cap’t t’heall fleet o’ them.’
1884. Chesh. Gloss., Fleet, an assemblage of birds when they come to their feeding ground or roosting quarters.
3. Fisheries. (See quots.)
1879. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), IX. 251/2. They [nets in drift-fishing] are fastened together end to end, and thus united form what is called a ‘train, fleet, or drift of nets,’ often extending to a length of more than a mile and a quarter.
1887. Kent. Gloss., s.v. Every Folkestone herring-boat carries a fleet of nets, and sixty nets make a fleet.
1892. Northumbld. Gloss., Fleet, a row of floating herring nets at sea attached to each other and to the fishing boat.
4. attrib., as fleet regatta, surgeon.
1891. Pall Mall G., 18 Nov., 5/2. The annual fleet regatta. Ibid. (1892), 30 Aug., 6/1. Dr. Irving was subsequently fleet surgeon to Lord Wolseley in the Ashantee campaign.
