fleet \fleet\ (fl[=e]t), v. i. [imp. & p. p. fleeted; p. pr. &
vb. n. fleeting.] [OE. fleten, fleoten, to swim, AS.
fle['o]tan to swim, float; akin to D. vlieten to flow, OS.
fliotan, OHG. fliozzan, G. fliessen, Icel. flj[=o]ta to
float, flow, Sw. flyta, D. flyde, L. pluere to rain, Gr.
plei^n to sail, swim, float, Skr. plu to swim, sail.
[root]84. Cf. Fleet, n. & a., Float, Pluvial, Flow.]
1. To sail; to float. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet.
--Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
2. To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit
as a light substance.
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All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, . . .
Dissolved on earth, fleet hither. --Milton.
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3. (Naut.) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan
or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser.
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4. (Naut.) To move or change in position; -- said of persons;
as, the crew fleeted aft.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Fleeting \Fleet"ing\, a.
Passing swiftly away; not durable; transient; transitory; as,
the fleeting hours or moments.
Syn: Evanescent; ephemeral. See Transient.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
fleeting
adj : lasting for a markedly brief time; "a fleeting glance";
"fugitive hours"; "rapid momentaneous association of
things that meet and pass"; "a momentary glimpse" [syn:
fugitive, momentaneous, momentary]
WordNet (r) 2.0
59 Moby Thesaurus words for "fleeting":
abrupt, blunt, brief, brittle, brusque, capricious, changeable,
compendious, corruptible, crusty, curt, deciduous, disappearing,
dissolving, dying, ephemeral, evanescent, evaporating, fading,
fickle, flitting, fly-by-night, flying, fragile, frail, fugacious,
fugitive, gruff, impermanent, impetuous, impulsive, inconstant,
insubstantial, laconic, melting, momentary, mortal, mutable,
nondurable, nonpermanent, passing, perishable, short,
short and sweet, short-lived, snippety, snippy, succinct, temporal,
temporary, terse, transient, transitive, transitory, undurable,
unenduring, unstable, vanishing, volatile
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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