Fleeting

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  fleet \fleet\ (fl[=e]t), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {fleeted}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {fleeting}.] [OE. fleten, fleoten, to swim, AS.
     fle['o]tan to swim, float; akin to D. vlieten to flow, OS.
     fliotan, OHG. fliozzan, G. fliessen, Icel. flj[=o]ta to
     float, flow, Sw. flyta, D. flyde, L. pluere to rain, Gr.
     plei^n to sail, swim, float, Skr. plu to swim, sail.


     [root]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.]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fleeting \Fleet"ing\, a.
     Passing swiftly away; not durable; transient; transitory; as,
     the fleeting hours or moments.
  
     Syn: Evanescent; ephemeral. See {Transient}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fleeting
       adj : lasting for a markedly brief time; "a fleeting glance";
             "fugitive hours"; "rapid momentaneous association of
             things that meet and pass"; "a momentary glimpse" [syn:
              {fugitive}, {momentaneous}, {momentary}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  59 Moby Thesaurus words for "fleeting":
     abrupt, blunt, brief, brittle, brusque, capricious, changeable,
     compendious, corruptible, crusty, curt, deciduous, disappearing,
     dissolving, dying, ephemeral, evanescent, evaporating, fading,
     fickle, flitting, fly-by-night, flying, fragile, frail, fugacious,
     fugitive, gruff, impermanent, impetuous, impulsive, inconstant,
     insubstantial, laconic, melting, momentary, mortal, mutable,
     nondurable, nonpermanent, passing, perishable, short,
     short and sweet, short-lived, snippety, snippy, succinct, temporal,
     temporary, terse, transient, transitive, transitory, undurable,
     unenduring, unstable, vanishing, volatile