fleeted

Verb

fleet (third-person singular simple present fleets, present participle fleeting, simple past and past participle fleeted)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To float.
   • Legions of Spirits fleeting in the aire,
     Direct our Bullets and our weapons pointes […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
2. (ambitransitive) To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.
   • Long were to tell the troublous stormes, that tosse
     The private state, and make the life unsweet
     Who swelling sayles in Caspian sea doth crosse,
     And in frayle wood on Adrian gulf doth fleet1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
3. (ambitransitive) To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.
   • They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England. They say many young gentlemen flock to him every day and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
4. (intransitive) To flee, to escape, to speed away.
   • Gratiano:O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
     And for thy life let justice be accused.
     Thou almost makest me waver in my faith,
     To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
     That souls of animals infuse themselves
     Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
     Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,
     Even...c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
5. (intransitive) To evanesce, disappear, die out.
   • Portia:How all other passions fleet to air,
     As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair,
     And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy!
     O love, be moderate; allay thy ecstasy;
     In measure rain thy joy; scant this excess!
     I feel too much thy blessing; make it less,
     For fear I surfeit!c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
6. To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.
   • To fleet tackle when pennant block is used, the keeper, with a strap and heaver, racks both parts of hawser together near pennant block, and the tackle is then overhauled and hooked by the men assigned to those duties.1899, Regulations for the Government of the Life-Saving Service of the United States

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