different between lithe vs fleet

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la?ð/
• Rhymes: -a?ð

Etymology 1

From Middle English lithen, from Old English l?þan (“to go, travel, sail, be bereft of”), from Proto-Germanic *l?þan? (“to go, leave, suffer”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to go, depart, die”). Cognate with North Frisian lyen, lije (“to suffer”), Dutch lijden (“to suffer, dree, abide”), German leiden (“to suffer, brook, permit”). See also lode, lead.

Verb

lithe (third-person singular simple present lithes, present participle lithing, simple past lithed or lode, past participle lithed or lidden)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To go.

Etymology 2

From Middle English lithe, from Old English l?þe (“gentle, mild”), from Proto-West Germanic *linþ(?), from Proto-Germanic *linþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lentos. Akin to Saterland Frisian lied (“thin, skinny, gaunt”), Danish and archaic German lind (“mild”). Not attested in Gothic. Some sources also list Latin lenis (“soft”) and/or Latin lentus (“supple”) as possible cognates.

Adjective

lithe (comparative lither, superlative lithest)

1. (obsolete) Mild; calm.

   Synonyms: clement, gentle, mellow

2. Slim but not skinny.

   Synonyms: lithesome, lissome, swack; see also Thesaurus:slender

   • She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
3. Capable of being easily bent; flexible.

   Synonyms: pliant, flexible, limber; see also Thesaurus:flexible

   • 1861, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Elsie Venner, page 125

     … she danced with a kind of passionate fierceness, her lithe body undulating with flexuous grace …

4. Adaptable.

Derived terms

• litheness

Related terms

• -inda
• lind
• linden
• Linda

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English lithen, from Old English l?þian, l?þi?ian (“to soften, calm, mitigate, assuage, appease, be mild”), from Proto-Germanic *linþijan? (“to soften”), from Proto-Indo-European *lento- (“bendsome, resilient”). Cognate with German lindern (“to alleviate, ease, relieve”).

Verb

lithe

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To become calm.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To make soft or mild; soften; alleviate; mitigate; lessen; smooth; palliate.
   • a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Physic from Heaven

     England.. hath now suppled, lithed and stretched their throats.

   • 1642, Daniel Rogers, Naaman the Syrian: His Disease and Cure

     Give me also faith, Lord,.. to lithe, to form, and to accommodate my spirit and members.

Etymology 4

From Middle English lithen, from Old Norse hlýða (“to listen”), from Proto-Germanic *hliuþijan? (“to listen”), from Proto-Indo-European *?lewe- (“to hear”). Cognate with Danish lytte (“to listen”). Related to Old English hl?oþor (“noise, sound, voice, song, hearing”), Old English hl?d (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”). More at loud.

Alternative forms

• lythe

Verb

lithe (third-person singular simple present lithes, present participle lithing, simple past and past participle lithed)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To attend; listen, hearken.
2. (transitive) To listen to, hearken to.

Etymology 5

Origin uncertain; perhaps an alteration of lewth.

Noun

lithe (plural lithes)

1. (Scotland) Shelter.
   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song:

     So Cospatric got him the Pict folk to build a strong castle there in the lithe of the hills, with the Grampians dark and bleak behind it, and he had the Den drained and he married a Pict lady and got on her bairns and he lived there till he died.

Anagrams

• Leith, Theil, Thiel, lieth

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

lithe (plural lithes)

1. Alternative form of light

Etymology 2

Noun

lithe

1. Alternative form of lyth

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”)