Forms: Infin. 1 fléotan, (3rd pers. pr. t. flýt), 3–4 fleoten, (3 south. vleoten, wleoten), 3 fleote, 3–6 flet(e(n, 4–7 fleete, Sc. fleit, 4– fleet. Pa. t. 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(o)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. flioȝȝan to float, flow (MHG. vlieȝen, mod.Ger. flieszen to flow), ON. flióta (Sw. flyta, Da. flyde) 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.
c. 1000. Æflric, Hom. (Th.), II. 564. Aȝeot ele uppon wæter oððe on oðrum wætan, se ele flyt bufon.
c. 1205. Lay., 21327.
| Heore scalen wleoteð, | |
| swulc gold-faȝe sceldes. |
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1025. Lay þer-on [the Dead Sea] a lump of led · & hit on loft fleteȝ.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xxi. (1495), 451. An egge fletyth in salte water and synkyth downe in fresshe water.
1460–70. Bk. Quintessence, 9. A liquor of oyle ascende vp fletynge aboue in maner of a skyn.
c. 1470. Hardyng, Chron., CCXVI. iv. The bodies flete amonge our shippes echedaye.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. cci. 142. A water herbe which fleeteth upon the water.
1641. French, Distill., v. (1651), 127. The Oyl doth naturally fleet above as being the lighter body.
1836. W. 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.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 261.
| Heueden, (þat were of ysmyte,) & oþer lymes also, | |
| Flete in blode al fram þe grounde. |
a. 1500. Chaucer’s Dreme, 1962.
| Fleting they were in swich wele | |
| As folk that wolde in no wise | |
| Desire more perfit paradise. |
1508. Dunbar, Goldyn Targe, 70.
| Nor yit thou, Tullius, quhois lippis suete | |
| Off rethorike did in to termes flete. |
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Misc. P., xxxv. 8.
| That, throu zour heuinlie liquor sueit, | |
| My pen in rhetoric may fleit. |
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XIX. 204.
| My friend being dead, who digg’d with wounds, and bored through both his feet, | |
| 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.
| Sæ-genga for, | |
| fleat famiȝ-heals | |
| forþ ofer yðe. |
c. 1205. Lay., 32033. Alle þa scipen þa bi þare sæ fluten.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. 525.
| Where the Troyans fast | |
| Fell to their worke from the shore to vnstock | |
| High rigged ships: fleetes the talowed kele. |
1633. T. James, Voy., 82. These two dayes, our Ship did not fleet: and it was a happy houre, when we got her off, for that we neuer had such a high Tyde all the time we were here.
† 2. intr. To drift or be carried by the current or tide on the surface of the water. Obs.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., lviii. 445. Ðæt scip … sceal fleotan mid ðy streame.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3187. Moyses it [an gold gad] folwede ðider it flet.
c. 1305. 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 wyndeȝ.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 630.
| The thingis that thar fletand war | |
| Thai tuk. |
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., III. 89.
| Part drownit, part to the Roche fleit or swam, | |
| On raipis or buirdis, fine up the hill thay clam. |
1590. Marlowe, 2nd. Pt. Tamburl., I. i.
| The wandering sailors of proud Italy | |
| Shall meet those Christians, fleeting with the tide, | |
| Beating in heaps against their Argosies. |
† 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.
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 223.
| Quhow that thay [spirits] lay, in to tha flammis fletyng, | |
| With cairfull cryis, girnyng, and grietyng. |
a. 1613. W. Pemble, Zachary (1629), 164. Thin Clouds, fleeting under the thicker and heavier.
1744. J. Claridge’s Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules, 9. Mists are strictly speaking uncompacted Exhalations, which while they fleet near the Earth are stiled Mists, but when they ascend into the Air, are called Clouds.
† 4. To swim: said of fish, occas. of other animals and men. Obs.
Beowulf (Th.), 1089.
| No he wiht fram me | |
| flod-yþum feor | |
| fleotan meahte. |
c. 1205. Lay., 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.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XX. 44. Þe fisshe hath fyn · to flete with to reste.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, VII. 847.
| The Irland folk than maid thaim for the flycht; | |
| On craggis clam, and sum in wattir flett. |
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 257. By the calme seas come fletyng adders twaine.
a. 1600. Complaint, vi., in Ramsay’s Evergreen, I. 110.
| Leander on a stormy Nicht | |
| Diet fleitand on the Bilious gray. |
† 5. Of a person: To be afloat (in a vessel); to journey or travel by water; to sail. Also with in. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 28960.
| Forð flet mid vðe, | |
| folc vnimete. |
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 365. Þe mariners flet on flode.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 365.
| Yeres and dayes flette this creature | |
| Thurghout the see of Grece. |
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 31. Apon this flood have we flett many day.
1563. B. Googe, Eglogs, viii. (Arb.), 66.
| Then cuttes he swyft, the seas of sin, | |
| and through the Chanell deape, | |
| With Ioyful mynd, he fleets a pace, | |
| Whom Pleasure bryngs a sleape. |
1688. S. Sewall, Diary, 14 Aug. (1882), I. 223. They … lay aground a pretty while before they could fleet in.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 319. They might fleet down this river, if they could make anything to carry them.
† 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.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. vi. 28. Wenest þou þat þise mutaciouns of fortune fleten wiþ outen gouernour.
a. 1500[?]. Ragman Roll, 20, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 70.
| She changyth euer, and fletyth to and fro, | |
| For in oo poynt abydyth she never mo. |
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. xxv. 15. Those that by fleeting to and fro forge sundry wayes to save themselves.
1597. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 58. Can Euphues conuince me of fleeting, seeing for his sake I break my fidelitie?
1581. Savile, Tacitus’ Hist., III. xxvii. (1591), 130. Those … who rowled down huge stones vpon it, and forced the frame to stagger and fleete, then followed and searched into it with iauelins and speares, till the conexion of Targets being dissolued and broken, they slew or maimed the men.
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 6. Shadowlesse, when Sol is Zenith, from which point when it fleets either North or South the shadow ever darts contrarily, as falls out when ever the gnomon or cœlated body is interposed.
II. To flow (and derived senses).
† 7. Of liquid, esp. water, a river: To flow. Obs.
c. 1200. Ormin, 18093.
| Forr all all swa se waterrstræm | |
| Aȝȝ fleteþþ forþ & erneþþ | |
| Towarrd te sæ wiþþ mikell sped. |
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1606.
| The water by wisshyng went vnder houses, | |
| Gosshet through Godardys & other grete vautes, | |
| And clensit by course all þe clene Cite | |
| Of filth and of feum, throughe fletyng by nethe. |
c. 1425. Festivals of the Church 177, in Legends of the Holy Rood (1871), 261. Till fele teres gan flete.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Hollnshed, II. 2/1. The riuer of the Surie which fleeteth by the citie of Waterford in the south.
1595. Spenser, Col. Clout, 596.
| Her words were like a streame of honny fleeting, | |
| The which doth softly trickle from the hiue: | |
| Hable to melt the hearers heart vnweeting, | |
| And eke to make the dead againe aliue. |
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, I. v. 10. All sweeping or floating Waters, which flit and fleete to and fro with wind-catches, such as bee the Waters falling & descending from Vplandish countreys by land-floods surrounding Fens, and other Flats.
c. 1630. in Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 225 (1810), 238.
| Still gliding forth, altho’ it fleet full slow, | |
| Which way it bendeth, lest its noise should show. |
† b. transf. Of a multitude of persons: To ‘stream.’ Obs.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., x. 403. Cumis flowing and fleeting vnto thame, as til a pudle of al vice, troupis of the commoun peple.
1638. in Maidment, Sc. Pasquils (1868), 29.
| Frome Glasgow Raid to which mad meeting, | |
| Huge troups frome all quarters came fleeting, |
† 8. To overflow, abound. Const. with. (Cf. ‘flowing with milk and honey’). Obs. [So ON. flióta: see Fritzner s.v.]
c. 1374. Chaucer, 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 and forto welken in bodyly lust.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 1093.
| For so with fantasyes my wyt dothe flete, | |
| That wysdome and I shall seldome mete. |
† 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.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Macc. ix. 7. Judas sawȝ for his oost flette [1388, fleet (L. defluxit)] awey.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., XII. 211. But pulle hem [plommes] rather then thai flete atwynne.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 36. Leather scarcely halfe tanned, so that within two or three daies or a week wearing (especially if it come in any weat) wil straight-way become browne as a hare backe, and which is more, fleete and run abroad like a dishclout.
1598. W. Phillips, Linschoten (1864), 192. The bankes of sand doe fleet and vade away out of the Riuer, so that not onely small ships may come in and goe out, but all the great Portugall ships of sixteene hundred tunnes.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), II. 312 Leather, thus leisurely tanned many times in the fat, 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).
1576. Newton, Lemnie’s Complex. (1633), 192. No stampe, forme, or print, but such as presently fleeteth, and immediately vanisheth away againe.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. ii. 108.
| Por. How all the other passions fleet to ayre, | |
| As doubtfull thoughts, and rash imbrac’d despaire. |
1616. B. Jonson, Poetaster, Apol.
| And these my Prints should last, still to be read | |
| In their pale Fronts: when, what they write ’gainst me, | |
| Shall, like a Figure drawn in Water, fleet. |
1787. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 26 Feb. Mr. Turbulent’s compassion so fleeted away from the diversion of this recital.
1846. Keble, Lyra Innoc. (1873), 59.
| The deeds we do, the words we say,— | |
| Into still air they seem to fleet, | |
| We count them ever past; | |
| But they shall last,— | |
| In the dread judgment they | |
| And we shall meet. |
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.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 177. Alle woreld þing ben fleted alse water erninde.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 714.
| Mony klyf he ouer-clambe in contrayeȝ straunge, | |
| Fer floten fro his frendeȝ fremedly he rydeȝ. |
1388. Wyclif, Exod. xxxix. 19. Lest tho [ryngis] weren loose, and fletiden doun.
1563. Golding, Cæsar, IV. (1565), 95 b. The Sycambres had … fleeted out of theyr country, and carying all theyr goodes wyth theym, had hyd themselues in woodes and wildernesses.
1598. Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., VI. iii. (1622), 126. But Rubrius Fabatus despairing of the Roman affaires, and fleeting to the Parthians, and brought backe safe from the straights of Sicily by a Centurion, had keepers appointed him, not able to alleadge any probable causes of his long voiages.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 455.
| All th’ unaccomplisht works of Natures hand, | |
| Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixt, | |
| Dissolvd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain, | |
| Till final dissolution, wander here. |
a. 1730. Fenton, Poems, 14.
| The wand’ring Ghosts of twenty thousand slain | |
| Fleet sullen to the Shades, from Blenheim’s mournful Plain. |
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 48, ‘To Julio.’
| Julio, while Fancy’s tints adorn | |
| The first bright beam of manhood’s morn, | |
| The cares of boyhood fleet away | |
| Like clouds before the face of day. |
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, iii. 75. Money I desire, but no ill-gotten gain: for the wealth that the gods give lasts, and fleets not away; but the fruits of insolence and crime bring vengeance—sure, though slow.
b. Of the soul: To pass away from the body; hence said of a dying man.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., IV. vi.
| I see our souls are fleeting hence; | |
| We are deprived the sunshine of our life. |
1622. Fletcher, Span. Curate, IV. v.
| Bar. I am sorry, neighbour Diego, | |
| To find ye in so week a state. | |
| Die. You’re welcome; | |
| But I am fleeting, Sir. |
1713. Steele, Guardian No. 18, 1 April, ¶ 5.
| You teach that souls, from fleshy chains unbound, | |
| Seek not pale shades and Erebus profound, | |
| But fleeting hence to other regions stray, | |
| Once more to mix with animated clay. |
c. Of time: To pass rapidly and imperceptibly; to slip away. With mixture of the sense of FLEET a.
a. 1541. Wyatt, Poet. Wks. (1861), 11.
| So still in displeasure | |
| My pleasant days they fleet and pass; | |
| And daily doth mine ill change to the worse: | |
| While more than half is run now of my course. |
1621. Molle, Camerar. Liv. Libr., III. i. 149. Six hundred yeares being fleeted away since Henrie the fourth, there resteth no more.
1718. Prior, Poems, 297.
| Studious the busie Moments to deceive, | |
| That fleet between the Cradle and the Grave. |
1818. Coleridge, Method, in Encycl. Metrop. (1849), 5. He organizes the hours, and gives them a soul: and to that, the very essence of which is to fleet, and to have been, he communicates an imperishable and a spritual nature.
1875. Farrar, Silence & V., xi. 195. Time may fleet, and youth may fade,—as fleet and fade they will; and there may be storm as well as sunshine in the earthly career; yet it will inevitably be a happy career, and with a happiness that cannot die.
d. trans. To pass, while away (time); also, to fleet it. rare.
1600. Shaks., As You Like It, I. i. 123. Many yong Gentlemen flocke to him euery day, and fleet the time carelesly as they did in the golden world.
1858. Lewes, Sea-side Stud., 396. Whether roaming amid the lovely nooks of nature in quest of varied specimens, or fleeting the quiet hour in observation of his pets.
1891. The Saturday Review, LXXII. 8 Aug., 151/1. They read the Coinage Bill a third time, and so fleeted it goldenly in the literal sense till one o’clock A.M.
11. intr. To move swiftly; to flit, fly. Also with away. Cf. FLEET a.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1566. So felle floneȝ þer flete, when þe folk gedered.
1703. Rowe, Fair Penit., V. i. 1885.
| Or whether thro’ the upper Air we fleet, | |
| And tread the Fields of Light. |
1801. Lusignan, IV. 218. He fleeted across the plain.
1818. Hogg, in Blackw. Mag., IV. Oct., 76/1.
| Yon little cloud of many a hue | |
| That wanders o’er the solar blue, | |
| That curls, and rolls, and fleets away | |
| Beyond the very springs of day. |
1836. T. E. Hook, Gilbert Gurney, III. 325. The thought had scarcely fleeted through my brain.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., i. (1858), 67. Imagine all distant objects entirely lost to view,—the sheets of sand fleeting along the surface of the Desert like streams of water; the whole air filled, though invisibly, with a tempest of sand, driving in your face like sleet.
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.]
1769. Falconer, 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!
1859. F. A. Griffiths, The Artillerist’s Manual (1862), 107. To fleet blocks is to bring them as close together as possible by hauling on the fall.
1867. Smyth, 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.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 61. Fleet the purchase down to the water’s edge.
Hence Fleeted ppl. a.
1810. Shelley, Zastrozzi, vii. Pr. Wks. 1888, I. 47. Matilda hastened with restoratives, and soon succeeded in recalling to life Verezzi’s fleeted faculties.
