Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Fleet \Fleet\, n. [AS. fle['o]t a place where vessels float,
   bay, river; akin to D. vliet rill, brook, G. fliess. See
   {Fleet}, v. i.]
   1. A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; --
      obsolete, except as a place name, -- as Fleet Street in
      London.

            Together wove we nets to entrap the fish In floods
            and sedgy fleets.                     --Matthewes.

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

   {Fleet parson}, a clergyman of low character, in, or in the
      vicinity of, the Fleet prison, who was ready to unite
      persons in marriage (called Fleet marriage) at any hour,
      without public notice, witnesses, or consent of parents.