Fleet Means Both a Group of Ships and Fast
A fleet is a group of ships or vehicles. A separate adjective means swift, and the two words come from different roots.
A fleet is a group of ships, aircraft or vehicles under one command or ownership. A second *fleet* is an adjective meaning swift, as in *fleet of foot*, and the two are separate words: the ships come from an Old English verb meaning to float, and the speed sense from a Norse root meaning to glide or hurry. London's Fleet Street is named after the River Fleet, now entirely underground, which used the floating sense.
- A group of ships. *The Atlantic fleet.*
- A company's vehicles. *A fleet of vans.*
- Swift. *Fleet of foot.*
- Fleeting — brief. *A fleeting glance.*
- Fleet Street — the London street. *Fleet Street.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | fleet | A large fleet. |
| Plural | fleets | Two fleets. |
| Adjective | fleet | Fleet of foot. |
| Adjective | fleeting | A fleeting moment. |
| Old English | fleotan | To float. |
- The fleet sailed at dawn.Ships.
- The company runs a fleet of vans.Vehicles.
- He was fleet of foot.Swift.
Why Fleet Street means the press
- Named after the River Fleet, now a covered sewer
- Printers settled there from around 1500, near the law courts
- Most national newspapers had offices there by the 1900s
- They left in the 1980s, mostly for Wapping and Canary Wharf
- The name still means the British newspaper industry
Old English *fleot*, a ship or floating vessel, from *fleotan*, to float. The adjective is from Old Norse *fljotr*, swift.
Are the two meanings of fleet related?
Not directly. The ships come from an Old English word for floating; the sense of swift comes from Old Norse.
Why does Fleet Street mean newspapers?
Because most British national papers had their offices there until the 1980s. The name outlived the presence.