flotilla

noun

Etymology: From Spanish flotilla, diminutive of flota (“fleet”), from French flotte.

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

   “Toward the horizon a flotilla of fishing-boats showed immutable, pink-lacquered by the evening sun.”

   “Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations. Home to 17 million quarians, the flotilla understandably has scarce resources. Because of this, each quarian must go on a rite of passage known as the Pilgrimage when they come of age. They leave the fleet and only return once they have found something of value they can bring back to their people.”

2. A small group of things or people

   “After a few moments Chloe saw Rosamund walking towards them with a small flotilla of shopping bags.”

   “flotilla of tiny ducklings”

3. A spaceship made of one or more central mutually stabilizing overweight spaceships flanked by lightweight, middleweight, or heavyweight spaceships that prevent the formation of destructive eggs.

   “For rule R(2222) a flotilla of six gliders traveling eastwards is generated.”

   “Now, the smallest known Life spaceship that isn’t a glider, a *WSS, or a flotilla of *WSSs is the loafer, which has population 20 in a 9 by 9 bounding box.”