*flee*

n. [ OE. flees, AS. fleós; akin to D. flies, vlies. ] 1. The entire coat of wool that covers a sheep or other similar animal; also, the quantity shorn from a sheep, or animal, at one time. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who shore me
Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any soft woolly covering resembling a fleece. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Manuf.) The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fleece wool, wool shorn from the sheep. --
Golden fleece. See under Golden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Fleeced p. pr. & vb. n. Fleecing. ] 1. To deprive of a fleece, or natural covering of wool. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To strip of money or other property unjustly, especially by trickery or fraud; to bring to straits by oppressions and exactions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whilst pope and prince shared the wool betwixt them, the people were finely fleeced. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To spread over as with wool. [ R. ] Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Furnished with a fleece; as, a sheep is well fleeced. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Stripped of a fleece; plundered; robbed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a fleece. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who fleeces or strips unjustly, especially by trickery or fraund. Prynne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Covered with, made of, or resembling, a fleece. “Fleecy flocks.” Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. Obs. pl. of Flea. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To mock; to flout at. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A word or look of derision or mockery. [ 1913 Webster ]

And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorn. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A grin of civility; a leer. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A sly, treacherous fleer on the face of deceivers. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who flees. Ld. Berners. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ imp. & p. p. fleered p. pr. & vb. n. fleering. ] [ OE. flerien; cf. Scot. fleyr, Norw. flira to titter, giggle, laugh at nothing, MHG. vlerre, vlarre, a wide wound. ] 1. To make a wry face in contempt, or to grin in scorn; to deride; to sneer; to mock; to gibe; as, to fleer and flout. [ 1913 Webster ]

To fleer and scorn at our solemnity. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To grin with an air of civility; to leer. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Grinning and fleering as though they went to a bear baiting. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who fleers. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a fleering manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. flete, fleote, AS. fleót ship, fr. fleótan to float, swim. See Fleet, v. i. and cf. Float. ] A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fleet captain, the senior aid of the admiral of a fleet, when a captain. Ham. Nav. Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Fleeter superl. Fleetest. ] [ Cf. Icel. fljōtr quick. See Fleet, v. i. ] 1. Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble. [ 1913 Webster ]

In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil. [ Prov. Eng. ] Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) (a) To draw apart the blocks of; -- said of a tackle. Totten.

(b) To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) To move or change in position; used only in special phrases; as, of fleet aft the crew.

We got the long “stick” . . . down and “fleeted” aft, where it was secured. F. T. Bullen. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ AS. fleót a place where vessels float, bay, river; akin to D. vliet rill, brook, G. fliess. See Fleet, v. i. ] 1. A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; -- obsolete, except as a place name, -- as Fleet Street in London. [ 1913 Webster ]

Together wove we nets to entrap the fish
In floods and sedgy fleets. Matthewes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up). [ 1913 Webster ]

Fleet parson, a clergyman of low character, in, or in the vicinity of, the Fleet prison, who was ready to unite persons in marriage (called Fleet marriage) at any hour, without public notice, witnesses, or consent of parents. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. flēt cream, fr. fleótan to float. See Fleet, v. i. ] To take the cream from; to skim. [ Prov. Eng. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. fleeted; p. pr. & vb. n. fleeting. ] [ OE. fleten, fleoten, to swim, AS. fleótan to swim, float; akin to D. vlieten to flow, OS. fliotan, OHG. fliozzan, G. fliessen, Icel. fljōta to float, flow, Sw. flyta, D. flyde, L. pluere to rain, Gr. plei^n to sail, swim, float, Skr. plu to swim, sail. √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. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, . . .
Dissolved on earth, fleet hither. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) To move or change in position; -- said of persons; as, the crew fleeted aft. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. Fleeted or skimmed milk. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Fleeten face, a face of the color of fleeten, i. e., blanched; hence, a coward. “You know where you are, you fleeten face.” Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Swift of foot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Passing swiftly away; not durable; transient; transitory; as, the fleeting hours or moments.

Syn. -- Evanescent; ephemeral. See Transient. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a fleeting manner; swiftly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. A mixture of buttermilk and boiling whey; curds. [ prov. Eng. ] Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a fleet manner; rapidly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Swiftness; rapidity; velocity; celerity; speed; as, the fleetness of a horse or of time. [ 1913 Webster ]