FLEET  , a word in all its significances, derived from the

root of the verb " to fleet," from 0 . Eng. fleotan, to float or flow, which ultimately derives from an Indo-European root seen in Gr. irM€Lv, to sail, and Lat. pluere, to rain; cf . Dutch oliessen, and Ger. fliessen . In English usage it survives in the name of many places, such as Byfleet and Northfleet, and in the Fleet, a stream in London that formerly ran into the Thames between the bottom of Ludgate Hill and the present Fleet Street . From the idea of " float " comes the application of the word to ships, when in company, and particularly to a large number of warships under the supreme . command of a single officer, with the individual ships, or groups of ships, under individual and sub-ordinate command . The distinction between a fleet and a squadron is often one of name only . In the British navy the various main divisions are or have been called fleets and squadrons indifferently . The word is also frequently used of a company of fishing vessels, and in fishing is also applied to a row of drift-nets fastened together . From the original meaning of the word " flowing " comes the adjectival use of the word, swift, or speedy; so also " fleeting," of something evanescent or fading away, with the idea of the fast-flowing lapse of time .