fleeting

Adjective
Synonyms: fugitivemomentaneousmomentary

WordNet 3.0

Adjective (1)

  1. lasting for a markedly brief time“a fleeting glance”“fugitive hours”“rapid momentaneous association of things that meet and pass”“a momentary glimpse”Synonyms: fugitivemomentaneousmomentary
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Webster's Dictionary (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.]

Fleeting \Fleet"ing\, a. Passing swiftly away; not durable; transient; transitory; as, the fleeting hours or moments.

Syn: Evanescent; ephemeral. See Transient. [1913 Webster]

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