1. (n. & a.) To sail; to float.

2. (n. & a.) To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.

3. (n. & a.) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser.

4. (v. t.) To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf.

5. (v. t.) To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.

6. (v. t.) To draw apart the blocks of; -- said of a tackle.

7. (v. t.) To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.

8. (v. i.) Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble.

9. (v. i.) Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.

10. (n.) A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.

11. (n.) A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; -- obsolete, except as a place name, -- as Fleet Street in London.

12. (n.) A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up).

13. (v. i.) To take the cream from; to skim.