different between fleet vs active

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fli?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /flit/
• Rhymes: -i?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English flete, flet (“fleet”), from Old English fl?ot (“ship”), likely related to Proto-Germanic *flut?n? (“to float”).

Noun

fleet (plural fleets)

1. A group of vessels or vehicles.
2. Any group of associated items.
   • 2004, Jim Hoskins, Building an on Demand Computing Environment with IBM:

     This is especially true in distributed printing environments, where a fleet of printers is shared by users on a network.

3. A large, coordinated group of people.
4. (nautical) A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.
5. (nautical, British Royal Navy) Any command of vessels exceeding a squadron in size, or a rear admiral's command, composed of five sail-of-the-line, with any number of smaller vessels.

Alternative forms

• fleete (obsolete)

Derived terms

• fleet in being
• merchant fleet

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English flete, flete (“bay, gulf”), from Old English fl?ot (“a bay, gulf, an arm of the sea, estuary, the mouth of a river”). Cognate with Dutch vliet (“stream, river, creek, inlet”), German Fleet (“watercourse, canal”).

Noun

fleet (plural fleets)

1. (obsolete, dialectal) An arm of the sea; a run of water, such as an inlet or a creek.
   • 1723, John Lewis, The History and Antiquities, Ecclesiastical and Civil, of the Isle of Tenet in Kent

     a certain Flete [...] through which little Boats used to come to the aforesaid Town

   • 1628, A. Matthewes (translator), Aminta (originally by Torquato Tasso)

     Together wove we nets to entrap the fish / In floods and sedgy fleets.

2. (nautical) A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Middle English fleten (“float”), from Old English fl?otan (“float”), from Proto-Germanic *fleutan?.

Verb

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

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To float.
   • c. 1606-07, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act III scene xi^[2]:

     Antony: Our force by land / Hath nobly held; our sever'd navy too, / Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-like.

2. (transitive) To pass over rapidly; to skim the surface of.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

3. (transitive, intransitive) To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act I scene i^[3]:

     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.

   • 1817-18, Percy Shelley, Rosalind and Helen, lines 626-627:

     And so through this dark world they fleet / Divided, till in death they meet.

4. (intransitive) To flee, to escape, to speed away.
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV scene i^[4]:

     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 from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,

     And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,

     Infused itself in thee; for thy desires

     Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.

5. (intransitive) To evanesce, disappear, die out.
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III scene ii:

     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!

6. (nautical) To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

7. (nautical, intransitive, of people) To move or change in position.
   • 1898, Frank T. Bullen, The Cruise of the "Cachalot"

     We got the long "stick" [...] down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured.

8. (nautical, obsolete) To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.
9. To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.
10. To take the cream from; to skim.

Translations

Adjective

fleet (comparative fleeter or more fleet, superlative fleetest or most fleet)

1. (literary) Swift in motion; light and quick in going from place to place.

   Synonyms: nimble, fast

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:

     [...]it was not till the afternoon that they came out on the high-road, their first high-road; and there disaster, fleet and unforeseen, sprang out on them — disaster momentous indeed to their expedition[...]

2. (uncommon) Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.

Derived terms

• fleetfoot
• fleetfooted

Translations

Etymology 4

See flet.

Noun

fleet (plural fleets)

1. (Yorkshire) Obsolete form of flet (“house, floor, large room”).
   • 1686, "Lyke Wake Dirge" as printed in The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900) p. 361:

     Fire and fleet and candle-lighte

Anagrams

• felte, lefte

Middle English

Noun

fleet

1. Alternative form of flete (“bay”)

English

Etymology

From Middle English actyf, from Old French actif, from Latin activus, from agere (“to do, to act”); see act.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æk.t?v/
• Rhymes: -ækt?v

Adjective

active (comparative more active, superlative most active)

1. Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting;—opposed to passive, that receives.

   Synonym: acting

   Antonym: passive

2. Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble.

   Synonyms: agile, nimble

   Antonyms: passive, indolent, still

3. In action; actually proceeding; working; in force

   Synonyms: in action, working, in force

   Antonyms: quiescent, dormant, extinct

   1. (specifically, of certain geological features, such as volcano, geysers, etc) Emitting hot materials, such as lava, smoke, or steam, or producing tremors.
4. Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy

   • This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.

   Synonyms: busy, deedful, diligent, energetic

   Antonyms: dull, sluggish, indolent, inert

5. Requiring or implying action or exertion

   Synonym: operative

   Antonyms: passive, tranquil, sedentary

6. Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative

   Antonyms: theoretical, speculative

7. Brisk; lively.

8. Implying or producing rapid action.

   Antonyms: passive, slow

9. (heading, grammar) About verbs.
   1. Applied to a form of the verb; — opposed to passive. See active voice.
   2. Applied to verbs which assert that the subject acts upon or affects something else; transitive.
   3. Applied to all verbs that express action as distinct from mere existence or state.
10. (computing, of source code) Eligible to be processed by a compiler or interpreter.
11. (electronics) Not passive.
12. (gay sexual slang) (of a homosexual man) enjoying a role in anal sex in which he penetrates, rather than being penetrated by his partner.

    Synonym: top

    Antonyms: passive, bottom

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:active

Derived terms

Related terms

• act

Translations

See also

• versatile (in relation to sense 10)

Noun

active (plural actives)

1. A person or thing that is acting or capable of acting.
   • 1989, The Alcalde (volume 78, number 2, page 11)

     "Alumni could become more active in giving guidance and leadership to students. They act as sort of a 'maturity governor' on fraternities," notes Ratliff, citing surveys suggesting that fraternity actives presume mistakenly that alumni want hazing […]

2. (electronics) Any component that is not passive. See Passivity (engineering).
   • 2013, David Manners, Hitchhikers' Guide to Electronics in the '90s (page 36)

     Components are split into two broad segments: actives and passives. Active components like the vacuum tube and the transistor contain the power to generate and alter electrical signals.

Further reading

• active in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• active in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Cavite

Asturian

Verb

active

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of activar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of activar

French

Adjective

active

1. feminine singular of actif

Verb

active

1. first-person singular present indicative of activer
2. third-person singular present indicative of activer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of activer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of activer
5. second-person singular imperative of activer

Anagrams

• cavité

German

Alternative forms

• aktive

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin ?ct?v?.

Adverb

active

1. (grammar, obsolete) actively

Etymology 2

Adjective

active

1. inflection of activ:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Interlingua

Adjective

active (not comparable)

1. active

Related terms

• action
• activitate

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb

?ct?v? (comparative ?ct?vius, superlative ?ct?vissim?)

1. (grammar) actively

Etymology 2

Adjective

?ct?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of ?ct?vus

References

• active in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• active in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.

Middle English

Adjective

active

1. Alternative form of actyf

Noun

active

1. Alternative form of actyf

Portuguese

Verb

active

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of activar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of activar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of activar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of activar

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ak?ti.ve]

Adjective

active

1. nominative feminine plural of activ
2. accusative feminine plural of activ
3. nominative neuter plural of activ
4. accusative neuter plural of activ

Spanish

Verb

active

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of activar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of activar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of activar.