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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

fleet·ing

Audio Help [flee-ting] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

passing swiftly; vanishing quickly; transient; transitory: fleeting beauty; a fleeting glance.

[Origin: 1325–75; ME; see fleet², -ing²

]

—Related forms

fleet·ing·ly, adverb

fleet·ing·ness, noun

—Synonyms passing, flitting, flying, brief, fugitive.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Fleeting

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fleet² Audio Help (flēt) Pronunciation Key
adj. fleet·er, fleet·est

Moving swiftly; rapid or nimble. See Synonyms at fast¹.
Fleeting; evanescent.

v. fleet·ed, fleet·ing, fleets

v. intr.

To move or pass swiftly.
To fade out; vanish.
Archaic To flow.
Obsolete To drift.

v. tr.

To cause (time) to pass quickly.
Nautical To alter the position of (tackle or rope, for example).

[Probably from Old Norse fljōtr. V., from Middle English fleten, to drift, float, from Old English flēotan; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.]

fleet'ly adv., fleet'ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fleet·ing Audio Help (flē'tĭng) Pronunciation Key
adj. Passing quickly; ephemeral: a fleeting glimpse; a fleeting interest in the campaign.

fleet'ing·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fleeting (adj.)

c.1225, from O.E. fleotende "floating, drifting," later "flying, moving swiftly," from O.E. fleotan (see fleet (n.)).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

fleeting
adjective
lasting for a markedly brief time; "a fleeting glance"; "fugitive hours"; "rapid momentaneous association of things that meet and pass"; "a momentary glimpse"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Fleeting

Fleet\, 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. ? to sail, swim, float, Skr. plu to swim, sail. [root]84. Cf. Fleet, n. & a., Float, Pluvial, Flow.]

1. To sail; to float. [Obs.]

And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet. --Spenser.

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

All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, . . . Dissolved on earth, fleet hither. --Milton.

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

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