flotilla
(fləʊˈtɪlə)
[a. Sp. flotilla, dim. of flota a fleet: see flota.]
A small fleet; a fleet of boats or small vessels.
| 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4890/1 The Flotilla..was sail'd. 1739 Let. in Descr. Windward Passage (ed. 2) 3 They commonly dispatch a few Ships into Europe, who..carry an Account of what is on Board the Galleons and Flota. The Ships are stiled the Flotilla. 1801 P. Somerville in A. Duncan Nelson (1806) 198 The enemy's flotilla in the bay of Boulogne. 1826 H. N. Coleridge West Indies 125 A flotilla of fishing or passage boats. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1865) II. vi. iii. 155 Sailing..in silken flotillas gayer than Cleopatra's, down the Elbe. |