Fleet vs. Flotilla

A group of vessels or vehicles.

Any group of associated items.

(nautical) A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.

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.

An arm of the sea; a run of water, such as an inlet or a creek.

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

To float.

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

Example: ‘a ship that fleets the gulf’;

(ambitransitive) To hasten over; to cause to pass away lightly, or in mirth and joy.

(intransitive) To flee, to escape, to speed away.

(intransitive) To evanesce, disappear, die out.

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

To move or change in position.

To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.

To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.

To take the cream from; to skim.

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

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

To sail; to float.

Example: ‘And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet.’;

To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.

Example: ‘All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, . . . Dissolved on earth, fleet hither.’;

To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; - said of a cable or hawser.

To move or change in position; - said of persons; as, the crew fleeted aft.

To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf.

To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy.

Example: ‘Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly.’;

To draw apart the blocks of; - said of a tackle.

To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.

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

Example: ‘We got the long "stick" . . . down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured.’;

To take the cream from; to skim.

Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble.

Example: ‘In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong.’;

Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil.

A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.

A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; - obsolete, except as a place name, - as Fleet Street in London.

Example: ‘Together wove we nets to entrap the fishIn floods and sedgy fleets.’;

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

group of aircraft operating together under the same ownership

group of motor vehicles operating together under the same ownership

a group of steamships operating together under the same ownership

a group of warships organized as a tactical unit

move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart

disappear gradually;

Example: ‘The pain eventually passed off’;

moving very fast;

Example: ‘fleet of foot’; ‘the fleet scurrying of squirrels’; ‘a swift current’; ‘swift flight of an arrow’; ‘a swift runner’;

(nautical) A small fleet of warships (usually of the same class), or a fleet of small ships.

A little fleet, or a fleet of small vessels.

a United States Navy fleet consisting of two or more squadrons of small warships

a fleet of small craft

A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small flota (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.